 The Soviet Union provided about half as much in monetary terms, however made much larger contributions in kind, taking the form of infrastructural aid, soft loans, technical knowledge transfer, economic planning and skills involved in the areas of steel mills, machine building, hydroelectric power and other heavy industries- especially nuclear energy and space research.In 1961, the US pledged $1,000,000,000 in development loans, in addition to $1,300,000,000 of free food.In 1959, Dwight D. Eisenhower became the first US President to visit India to strengthen the staggering ties between the two nations.