Cooper began his service as ambassador by developing a close friendship with Prime Minister Nehru. Nehru's respect and admiration for Cooper soon became widely known. Cooper labored to help officials in Washington, D.C. understand that India's reluctance to align with either the West or the Communists in China and the Soviet Union was their way of exercising their newly won independence. At the same time, he defended the U.S. military buildup after World War II, its involvement in the Korean War, and its membership in mutual security pacts like NATO and SEATO as self-defense measures, not aggressive actions by the U.S. government, as the Indians widely perceived them. Cooper condemned the Eisenhower administration's decision to sell weapons to Pakistan, which was resented by the Indians, but also felt that the Indian government took some political positions without regard to their moral implications. By late 1955, the "Chicago Daily News" reported that Indo-American relations had "improved to a degree not thought possible six months ago".