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Hulme, Derick. The Political Olympics: Moscow, Afghanistan, and the 1980 U.S. Boycott. Praeger New York, 1990.
International support for the boycott varied. Great Britain and Australia were the strongest allies to join the United States supporting boycott, ironically in the end, both countries sent athletes to the games. To try to build support for the boycott in Africa, Carter sent American boxer Mohammad Ali on a goodwill tour through the continent to persuade African governments to join. The trip backfired, however, when Ali himself was talked out of his support of the boycott during the course of his meetings. In the end, the closest U.S. allies to join the movement against the Moscow games were Canada, West Germany and Israel. Most of the Islamic nations also joined the boycott, although Afghanistan itself sent eleven athletes to compete. Other nations refusing to send teams to Moscow included Chile, Haiti, Honduras, Paraguay, South Korea, and the People’s Republic of China. However, keep in mind that not all of the nations that did not attend the games, did not come due to the boycott. There they had other issues, for instance, financial constraints.
There was public support for the boycott within the United States. The U.S. House of Representatives passed a nonbinding resolution approving the decision to stay away from Moscow with a vote of 386 in favor and 12 opposed; the U.S. Senate passed a similar measure with a vote of 88 to 4. Technically, the decision of whether or not to send athletes to the Olympic Games does not actually rest with either the President or the Congress, however; it is the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) that makes the final determination in such a situation. In the face of such broad support, however, the USOC expressed its willingness to respect the decision of the U.S. Government with regard to the games. While some nations chose to express their displeasure with Soviet military actions by not sending formal teams to compete, but also not preventing individual athletes from attending and competing under the Olympic flag, athletes in the United States were warned that travel to Moscow for the games would result in them being stripped of their passports. In protest, a group of 25 American athletes sued the U.S. Government over the boycott seeking permission to compete, but they lost their case.
In organizing the boycott and rallying support behind it, the Carter Administration had wanted to express the extent of international displeasure with the invasion of Afghanistan, and to pressure the Soviets to pull their armies out of the conflict. In actuality, the Soviet-Afghan War continued and did not end until 1989, and the Soviets reacted to the boycott by retaliating and leading a communist-bloc boycott of the 1984 Summer Olympic Games held in Los Angeles. These Olympic boycotts were just one manifestation of the cooling relations between the United States and the Soviet Union in the early 1980s.
Evaluation of Sources
The two sources are the article from the Bureau of Public Affairs and the book The Political Olympics: Moscow, Afghanistan, and the 1980 U.S. Boycott by Derick Hulme. Derick Hulme received his B.A. in 1983 from St. Lawrence University and his M.A.L.D. and Ph.D. in 1988 from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University. He is currently Assistant Professor of Political Science at Simpson College in Iowa. He also wrote two other books, and . This is a very credible source in the sense that this author has a background in political science. The claims made in this book are supported by facts and first person experiences. This book excludes biases, making it a reliable source. It provides valuable information for this investigation because it analyses the decision of the boycott and the internal and external campaign. However it is limited in the sense that it does not explain how these Games affected events following it, for instance how they affected the 1988 Games. The article from the Bureau of Public Affairs is also a credible source. The website serves as the State Department’s portal of information on U.S. foreign policy and information about the State Department. It is managed by the Office of Electronic Information, Bureau of Public Affairs. The current State Department website covers the Administrations of President George W. Bush since he first took office on January 19, 2001. The site provides content available online prior to that date. This makes the source stronger because the information is updated. It provides publications and information from the State Department for archive and research purposes. It is valuable for this investigation because it explains the soviet invasion of Afghanistan and why the United States got involved. The limitations from this source are that they do not provide first person experiences or thought on the subject, for instance the athletes or observers.
Analysis
The initial event that interfered with the concern for the Olympic Games was when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan on December 27, 1979. The international community broadly condemned the action. Advisors to Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev claimed that the intervention would be quick and uncontested and suggested that U.S. President Jimmy Carter was too engrossed in the ongoing hostage crisis in Iran to respond to the situation in Kabul. In reality, the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan led to an extended conflict in Central Asia, and Carter reacted with a series of measures designed to place pressure on the Soviets to withdraw. The idea gained popularity, however, when Russian dissident Andrei Sakharov called for a boycott in early January (McDonald, Brian). On January 14, 1980, the Carter Administration joined Sakharov by setting a deadline by which the Soviet Union must pull out of Afghanistan or face consequences including an international boycott of the games. When the deadline passed a month later without any change to the situation in Central Asia, Carter pushed U.S. allies to pull their Olympic teams from the upcoming games. (Bureau of Public Affairs, 2008) To try to build support for the boycott in Africa, Carter sent American boxer Mohammad Ali on a goodwill tour through the continent to persuade African governments to join. The trip backfired, however, when Ali himself was talked out of his support of the boycott during the course of his meetings. Within the United States, there was public support for the boycott. In organizing the boycott and rallying support behind it, the Carter Administration had wanted to express the extent of international displeasure with the invasion of Afghanistan, and to pressure the Soviets to pull their armies out of the conflict (Hulme, 1990). This investigation is important to its historical context because it illustrates how politics and the decisions made by other countries affected a very popular, international event.
Conclusion
The United States boycotted the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games due to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Initially, the Carter Administration joined Sakharov by setting a deadline that insisted that the Soviet Union must either pull out of Afghanistan or face consequences including an international boycott of the games. The U.S. House of Representatives passed a nonbinding resolution approving the decision to stay away from Moscow. The United States Olympic Committee (USOC) is who makes the decision as to whether the nation attends the Olympics or not. They decided to respect the wishes of the government and not attend these games. A month after the deadline was passed, there still was no change. The idea for the Boycott built support trough the United States and there was a strong amount of public support for it here. Carter also tried reaching out to the other nations; one example of this is when he sent American boxer Mohammad Ali on a goodwill tour to build support in Africa. In addition, Carter then persuaded the U.S. allies to take their teams out of the games. The closest U.S. allies to join the movement against the Moscow games were Canada, West Germany and Israel. The boycott did not seem to affect the invasion of Afghanistan greatly. The proof of this is that the war did not end once the Boycott took place and that the war continued on until 1989. Although it was very widespread and drew great attention to the problem, the threat by Carter to pressure the Soviets to withdraw did not have a significant impact on the decision as to when it would end. The biggest effect this international response had was bringing politics to the Olympic Games as opposed to the initial intent which was to put pressure on the Soviet Union.
List of Sources
Bureau of Public Affairs. "The Olympic Boycott, 1980." U.S. Department of State. 2 Nov. 2008
<http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ho/time/qfp/104481.htm>.
Hulme, Derick. The Political Olympics: Moscow, Afghanistan, and the 1980 U.S. Boycott.
Praeger New York, 1990.
Walton, Andy. "Olympic Boycotts." CNN Interactive. 2 Oct. 2008
<http://www.cnn.com/specials/cold.war/episodes/20/spotlight/>.
Rosenberg, Jennifer. "History of the Olympics." about.com. 18 Dec 2008 <http://history1900s.about.com/od/fadsfashion/a/olympics1980.htm>.
"Moscow 1980." olympics . 2008. International Olympic Committee ® IOC . 18 Dec 2008
<http://www.olympic.org/uk/games/past/index_uk.asp?OLGT=1&OLGY=1980>.
1980 Moscow Olympic Games ." Moscow-life.com . 2008. 18 Dec 2008 <http://www.moscow-
life.com/>.
McDonald, Brian . "Canada boycotts Moscow Olympics." CBC Didgital Archives . April 22,
1980. 18 Dec 2008 <http://archives.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/clips/3662/>.
MacEachin, Doug . "The Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan in 1979." 26 Sept 2005. Institute for the
Study of Diplomacy. 8 Jan 2009 <http://isd.georgetown.edu/Afghan_1_WR_group.pdf>.
Kakar, M. Hassan . Afghanistan. London: UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS, 1995.
