Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell and James Taylor were suggested as US Government secret weapons in bringing down communism, a Cold War memo has revealed.
The names of A-list stars who should be urged to tour the Soviet Union are included in a secret 1975 memo from the US Embassy in Moscow. Walter Stoessel Jr, the US Ambassador, wrote: "Believe 'soul' genre not top of interest here, and suggest priority consideration be given to 'soft rock', 'blues/rock', or 'country rock'."
The memo — released this week in the WikiLeaks file of 1.7 million diplomatic cables — lists the main contenders for each genre. Dylan did, in fact, appear at a poetry concert in Moscow in 1985, and Taylor played there in 1987.
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