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Between 1924 and 1928 Roerich led a U.S.-flagged expedition through various regions of Central Asia including Chinese Turkestan, Altai, Mongolia, and Tibet. During the 1930's he visited Manchuria at the behest of U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Henry Wallace, to whom he reportedly suggested adding the Great Seal of the United States (the eye-in-pyramid symbol) to the obverse of U.S. currency. Exposure of Wallace's "guru letters" to Roerich (so named for their customary salutation, "Dear Guru...") derailed Wallaces 1948 presidential bid.
During the 1920's, Roerich--ostensibly acting on the instructions of his Masters--approached the Soviet authorities with a proposal to establish a new Central Asian Buddhist state. His proposal was received coldly, (as was his endorsement of V.I. Lenin as a Mahatma, equal to Jesus or Buddha), and the Roerichs soon felt it adviseable to flee Moscow.
Roerich wrote a number of books including poetry, essays, and travel writings. Of these, the best-known are his travelogue ''Altai-Himalaya'' (which incidentally reports an early UFO sighting, over Eastern Tibet in 1926) and essay ''Shambhala'' (describing a paradisial Buddhist kingdom which only the elect may find).
