Truman and Khrushchev: Gone to Look for America

Photo by gamillos via Flickr (Creative Commons)

Some Cold War travel memories bubbled up this weekend in the Washington Post. Christopher Buckley favorably reviews Matthew Algeo’s Harry Truman’s Excellent Adventure, a chronicle of Truman’s post-presidency road trip in the summer of 1953. And Peter Carlson follows the journey of former Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, who accepted an invite from President Eisenhower to “road trip through the wonderland of ’50s America.”

Carlson emerges from his look back with an intriguing idea: “Obama should invite Kim [Jong Il] to the United States and let him wander around for a couple of weeks.”

I love it. Can you imagine the spectacle—and diplomatic possibilities—of Kim Jong Il cruising Route 66?

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