In December 1984 when the Soviet Union still was an "evil empire" and the United States "encroached on the achievements of Socialism," Ira Jay Winn wrote, "students who scream "Kill the Russkies" or who believe that the Soviets fought against us in World War II... are not simply ignorant of historical facts or the power of words; they are living with a dangerous mythology that reflects the attitudes of the adults around them" (1984, 289). In part, that mythology, whether we like it or not, was created by teachers who heavily depended on the information they obtained from articles, books, and media. In this article, the author cites published sources that educators might have used or probably did use to teach about the USSR in the 1940s and 1950s. He shows that the the appearance of those materials was congruent with three phases of teacher motivation that he describes. In pre-Internet and pre-TV era, printed materials were the main sources available to teachers. The number of books and articles with descriptions and analysis of contemporary events in the Soviet Union decreased dramatically in the 1930s, primarily as a results of Stalin's domestic and international policy. The events and outcome of World War II revived public interest in a new ally and encouraged educators to search for reliable information about the USSR. Using examples from Indiana's local papers of that period, the author shows how the political situation hindered the efforts of educators to present various, and sometimes opposing, views on the situation behind the Iron Curtain. The author further argues that printed materials about the Soviet Union in general corresponded with teachers' motivations to teach about the USSR and, probably, determined the latter.