Date of Award

6-2017

Document Type

Open Access

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

History

First Advisor

Kenneth Aslakson

Language

English

Keywords

cold war, 1980 Summer Olympics, Afghanistan

Abstract

When President Jimmy Carter decided to boycott the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, it was the largest act of political interference in the history of the Olympics. It began in December of 1979 when Soviet troops invaded Afghanistan. Carter was having a difficult time getting the hostages back so in response to the invasion of Afghanistan, Carter gave the Soviets one month to withdraw their troops or the United States would boycott their Olympics. Since the Soviets did not respect the demands of the President, Carter stuck to his threat and the United States did not participate in the 1980 Moscow games as well as 65 other nations. Although this was not the President’s decision to make, overwhelming support from the public as well as pressure from Congress made the United States Olympic Committee respect the government’s actions and officially boycotted the 1980 Olympics. This was an extreme case of Cold War politics.

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