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Mikhail Gorbachev's Visit to Minnesota, 1990

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Photograph of Commemorative Cyrillic Highway Sign

Sign with Cyrillic Russian lettering designed and manufactured by the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MNDOT) and posted along Interstate 94 in Minneapolis at the Dartmouth Bridge over the Mississippi River on June 3, 1990.

In 1990, workers installed a three-by-six-foot aluminum highway sign reading “Mississippi River” in Russian on the I-94 Dartmouth bridge between St. Paul and Minneapolis. It had been prepared by the Minnesota Department of Transportation’s sign shop in Oakdale for Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev’s visit to the Twin Cities on June 3. Gorbachev’s motorcade passed the sign on that day as he and his wife, Raisa, began a historic visit that established a friendly relationship between the Soviet Union and the North Star State and signaled the approaching end of the Cold War.

On an unseasonably cold June afternoon, Minnesota welcomed the Gorbachevs, Mikhail and his wife, Raisa, to the Twin Cities. The greeting followed Mikhail’s morning meeting with President George H. W. Bush, where the two discussed foreign policy. At a Governor’s Mansion luncheon, Rudy Perpich announced the development of the Gorbachev–Maxwell Institute of Technology, an ultimately ill-fated international research institution tentatively funded by Czech-British newspaper billionaire Robert Maxwell.

The Gorbachevs then took a planned motorcade route through the Summit Hill neighborhood of St. Paul in a limousine shipped in from the USSR, stopping multiple times to shake hands with members of the crowd. Most approved of Mikhail for his glasnost (transparency) policies, but hundreds of people originally from Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania protested for Baltic independence.

Gorbachev later met with Fortune 500 executives at the Downtown Minneapolis Radisson to encourage American investment, acknowledging the USSR’s economic shortcomings while warning that companies “that stand on the sidelines will remain observers for years to come.” While Mikhail was taking questions on Russia’s economy, Raisa attended a dinner with a family in South Minneapolis. She also accepted gifts from school groups and made an impromptu stop at a drugstore to ask about working conditions, maternity leave, and differences in quality between similar products.

After a brief visit with Control Data Corporation, a technology firm with longstanding ties to Russia, the Gorbachevs departed for San Francisco. Rudy Perpich, who emerged as the clear political winner of the visit, reported confidence that the visit would have a direct impact on international trade with Minnesota.

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© Minnesota Historical Society
Public domain
  • Bibliography

Gaut, Greg, and Marsha Neff. "Red Stars Over Minnesota." Minnesota History 61, no. 8 (Winter 2009–2010): 346–359.
http://collections.mnhs.org/mnhistorymagazine/articles/61/v61i08p346-359.pdf

Gross, Steve, Allen Short, and Mike Kaszuba. “CDC Computer Sale to Soviets to be OK’d.” Minneapolis Star Tribune, June 4, 1990.

McGrath, Dennis J. “Gorbachev Warms a Cold Day: Research Center Announcement Caps Minnesota Visit.” Minneapolis Star Tribune, June 4, 1990.

[No author.] “Gorbachev’s Minnesota Agenda.” Washington Post, May 23, 1990.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1990/05/23/gorbachevs-minnesota-agenda/c91d19ea-8b96-4159-b36c-a4b394396ea1/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.64847fa97c1c

[No author.] “Gorbachevs Visit Minnesota, Dazzle American Heartland.” South Florida Sun Sentinel, May 23, 1990.

Peterson, David. “From 1:50 Until 8:22 We See His Personal Glasnost.” Minneapolis Star Tribune, June 4, 1990.

Phelps, David. “Hey Gorby! Get Outta Town Dude, You’re History.” Minneapolis Star Tribune, June 8, 1994.

Phelps, David, Josephine Marcotty, and Susan E. Peterson. "Gorbachev Tells Business Leaders to Seize the Moment.” Minneapolis Star Tribune, June 4, 1990.

Schmidt, William E. “Minnesota Journal; Savoring the Afterglow of a World-Class Visit.” New York Times, June 6, 1990.
https://www.nytimes.com/1990/06/06/us/minnesota-journal-savoring-the-afterglow-of-a-world-class-visit.html

Tolchin, Martin. “Minnesota Lands Gorbachev: Public Relations Man’s Coup.” New York Times, June 6, 1990.
https://www.nytimes.com/1990/05/17/us/minnesota-lands-gorbachev-public-relations-man-s-coup.html

Wilson, Betty. “Major Research Institution Proposed.” Minneapolis Star Tribune, June 4, 1990.

——— . “Perpich Says the Visit Was a Success for State.” Minneapolis Star Tribune, June 4, 1990.

Woutat, Donald. “Charming, Charmed Raisa Steals the Show.” Minneapolis Star Tribune, June 4, 1990.

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Chronology

May 15

The office of Governor Rudy Perpich announces that Mikhail and Raisa Gorbachev will make a stop in the Twin Cities during their upcoming trip to the United States.

May 24

At the governor's request, Minneapolis Star Tribune publisher Roger Parkinson incorporates the non-profit company Gorbachev Visit to organize the Russian leader's engagements in Minnesota.

June 3

Mikhail and Raisa Gorbachev arrive in Minnesota. To begin their visit, the couple have lunch with Governor Rudy Perpich and his wife, Lola, at the Governor's Mansion.

June 3

After lunch, the Gorbachevs tour the Minnesota State Capitol, the Cathedral of St. Paul, and the Radisson Plaza Hotel in Minneapolis.

June 3

Raisa Gorbachev shops on Nicollet Avenue in Minneapolis in the late afternoon, stopping at Snyder's Drug Store and Pepito's Nicollet Deli.

June 4

Perpich offers to create a private research institution and name it the Gorbachev-Maxwell Institute of Technology. Due to lack of funds, the project does not proceed.

June 4

In the evening, the Gorbachevs depart for San Francisco via Minneapolis–St. Paul International Airport.

October

Gorbachev is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his achievements in diplomacy and democratic reform.