

1955 Map Shows No-Go Zones for Soviet Travelers in the U.S. - tptacek
http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_vault/2013/05/15/cold_war_map_shows_areas_prohibited_to_soviet_travelers_in_the_united_states.html

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tptacek
The stretch from Rock Island, IL to Memphis I get --- Rock Island houses a
huge arsenal, southern Illinois has a large munitions plant, the Mississipi is
an important shipping lane, and the area around Memphis gets you Oak Ridge
Labs.

I think I understand Oklahoma --- you have Tinker AFB and another munitions
plant.

I know there are a lot of military installations in Michigan and presumably
Indiana, but is the primary reason they're blacked out just that it's the
industrial corridor for the country? Just black out the rust belt?

Any other areas people can explain?

~~~
glurgh
One thing that jumped out - "Travel restrictions on Soviet private citizens
stayed in place, enforced by the Departments of State and Justice, until the
Kennedy administration unilaterally lifted them in 1962 as a symbol of the
openness of American society."

The administrations in question were surely perfectly aware that there was no
such thing as 'Soviet private citizens' just up and traveling to the US.

But, anecdotally at least, the symbolism did work - my father first visited
the US in the early 70s as a Soviet-bloc citizen working for UN IAEA
Safeguards. He was impressed by how unrestricted his travel was - he wanted to
extend his trip slightly to do a bit of sightseeing - the Grand Canyon and
Vegas (I think both off this map). His hosts helped arrange it for him in a
few minutes and with a couple of calls. To a travel agent, not the CIA.

Which may seem innocuous now but it was the height of the cold war, the UN was
a much-beloved Soviet spy-insertion vector and the working destination of his
trip was, in fact, Oak Ridge - not a place famous for its guided tours.

------
bialczabub
Stay out of Malibu, Lebovski!

