In October 1949, the president showed James Webb, acting secretary of state, a map of Russia, color-coded to indicate where Muslims and Buddhists were to be found: they formed a wide belt across southern Russia. Both groups were antagonistic to the Soviet regime, Truman pointed out to Webb; perhaps they could be induced to make trouble at the border?

Nicholson Baker, Baseless- My Search for Sec…, loc. 981