India, July 5 -- America clocked its 250th anniversary this weekend. In Delhi, those wishing to mark the occasion may stop outside the American Center and look up at a large portrait of President Donald Trump hanging on the building's facade, overlooking the traffic on Kasturba Gandhi Marg. The banner has been there for some weeks, in anticipation of the Independence Day celebrations.

A short distance away stands another reminder of America. Inside the India International Centre on Max Mueller Marg, a memorial honours two figures. One is counted among the greatest Indians, the other among the greatest Americans; both were bound by a shared vocabulary of ahimsa and moral struggle. When this American arrived in his only visit to Delhi in 1...