Fiona Cullum
United States History
Serrano
Block: 3
I. Introduction
“Our nation does not know us as Olympians. Our sublime moments of exertion and triumph do not exist. We have no memories and you have no memories of us” (DeFranz, qtd. in Caraccioli 17). In 1980, the United States led a 61 nation boycott of the Moscow Summer Olympics. President Jimmy Carter called for the boycott to protest the Soviet Union Invasion of Afghanistan. Many people have debated whether the United States should have boycotted the games, which impacted President Jimmy Carter’s diplomatic relations and had serious consequences for athletes around the world. The boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics was problematic for both cultural and political reasons. The United States should not have participated in or led the boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics because the US government was blending the spheres of athletics and politics, government officials were solely concerned with the international reputation of the US and its relations with other nations, and the athletes preparing to participate in the games to represent the US were treated unfairly.
II. Background
After World War II ended, a new war began: the Cold War. The Cold war was different because there was no fighting with weapons. The principal antagonists in this war were the United States and Soviet Union. There was a great fear of nuclear weapons and a “hot” war, so instead they fought by using words. After decades of somewhat restrained
The Cold War started with the end of WWII 1945 and finally ended in 1991. It was against the Soviet Union and the United States. This “war” was fought through nuclears threats and actions. Soviets and US remain the two last superpowers. Tensions grew between the soviet union and the United States which led to world changing technologies like nuclear bombs on both sides of the war.
The Cold War took place after World War II between the years of 1947 and 1991. It was a struggle for supremacy between both the United States and the Soviet Union. The Cold War was to dominate international affairs for decades. Major crises occurred such as the Cuban Missile Crisis, Vietnam, Hungary and the Berlin Wall being just some of the resulting issues. For many, the growth in weapons of mass destruction was the most worrying issue because it is always unknown as to what they could be used for. Neither side ever fought the other because the casualties would be tragic, but they did ‘fight’ for their beliefs using client states who fought for their beliefs on
However, as the war came to an end, the two superpowers started to have tension between them. This would soon be known as the Cold War. The Cold War was a time where communism and capitalism argued over which way was better. The Cold War was “fought” by the USA and USSR, and can be most easily described as a conflict over which way was better, communism or capitalism.
Following the events of World War 2, a new conflict arose. Except this one didn’t involve actual fighting. The Cold War began after reciprocated feelings of distrust and conflicting ideas about which government was best between the U.S. and U.S.S.R. While the Cold War affected life in the United States and the Soviet Union, it also influenced life in countries all over the world.
As World War II came to a close, a new conflict arose among the two superpowers, Soviet Union and the United States. This conflict, known as the Cold War, affected nearly every country in the world, including Europe, Asia, and Latin America. Countries was divided between communist and non-communist countries, which caused tension, political unrest, and monetary difficulties. The Cold War was a war of words and thoughts and it was the timeframe after World War II that led to political and military tensions between democratic United States and communist Soviet Union.
The Soviet’s decision to invade soon lead to the 1980 Olympic Boycott (Taranto 191). “The Olympic boycott was case in point. [America
The Cold war was a time of hardships in the mid 1900s and continued having a war between the two superpowers for which would have more of a sphere of influence on the nations worldwide. Sphere of influence, nuclear weapons, and propaganda were main ways on how the Cold war had started and were a few of the many “weapons” used in alternating ways for the war. Cold War began in many ways, but a few main ones were the nuclear weapon warfare, the sphere of influence among the two superpowers, the Soviets and the United States and the ways the two nations used propaganda to promote their ideologies on their citizens and others to gain influence. Nuclear weapons are a main source of conflict between the U.S.S.R and the U.S in the cold war.
The Cold War, which started sometime in the 1940’s, was a large quarrel between the United States and the Soviet Union. This dispute involved a lot of propaganda and threats of nuclear warfare. Despite all of the trouble though, after over forty years of fighting, the two leaders of these countries (Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev) would finally work out a solution. However, although they did reach an agreement, there were many differences between these two men.
After World War II, the USSR and United States engaged in an unprecedented conflict called the Cold War. Despite the armaments being produced, this war was not directly fought with thousands of soldiers or massive weapons. An enormous rise in tensions created a competition between the two countries for diplomatic, economic, cultural, and military dominance. Of course, nothing was official until President Harry Truman and Winston Churchill worked together to form a partnership of anti Soviet aggression. The Truman Doctrine and Iron Curtain Speech officially started the Cold War, initiated worldwide indirect fighting, and ended the United States’ well-established policy of isolationism.
After the end of World War II on September 2, 1945, a new era called the Cold War began. The Cold War was a non-violent state of political and military tension between the democratic and capitalist United States and the communist Soviet Union: two of the biggest powers of the world at the time. However, they were drastically different in both economy and politics, allowing rivalry to build up. They both wanted to become the most powerful nation of the world, and both feared that the other nation would rise up to become the most powerful nation of the world.
Cold War/Soviet Union: Starting directly after the Second World War, the Cold War was a war unlike the other wars the world experienced. Despite the team effort of the USA and the USSR during WWII, these two major powers were in opposition during the Cold War. In addition to this, the Cold War never saw a battlefield, as it was a fight between political ideas, created by fear and military power. In the simplest terms, the USSR, led by the dictator Joseph Stalin, believed in communism, whereas the USA and its allies believed in capitalism. The Cold War was proxy war, with both sides increasing their nuclear fire power, and inspiring the fear of takeover in the
The Cold War was a diplomatic war between the two superpowers, USSR and USA. Despite being the two most powerful countries in the world, no actual fighting took place. Instead, the war was fought through various methods of propaganda and threats.
For more than a decade before the Seoul 1988 Summer Olympics, politics has been the major player. Boycotts due to political reasons have been on the rise, and efforts needed to be done to stop it or at least slow down, as much as possible, the interference of politics in sports. The United States of America and the USSR have not competed against each other in summer Olympic games since 1976, and another upset or boycott could end the continuation of the modern Olympic games forever.
The “Cold War” was a unique time period were paranoia ran high and the world was at a stalemate as it watch the competition between the two world superpowers,(U.S. and the U.S.S.R.).
Boycotting has been used throughout history as an instrument for foreign policy. “For any Olympics to be a true Olympics, all the world’s nations should be represented,” said Anderson. “Not … those … on one side or the other of political barbed wire.” As a result of boycott, the essence of the games—competition—diminished. At the 1980 Olympics where the United States decided to stay home, the Soviet Union swept 195 medals—the largest won in history—followed by the United States in 1984 with 174 medals, when, by no surprise, the Soviets decided to miss. Ironically, the spirit of the Olympics turned cold alongside the Cold War. “[The domination as a result of boycott] diminished any accomplishments in working hard,” said Al Oerter, a four-time Olympic gold-medal winner. The Olympic Games quickly turned into a game for politicians, not the athletes. James Montague, the 2009 Best New Writer, wrote in CNN that Carter’s idea of a “good, non-military way of protesting the invasion” was not effective, with the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan lasting another eight years. The 1976 boycott was not effective either; the South African apartheid regime survived another eighteen years. Boycotting did more damage at home than it did away: it proved horrible for the Olympic movement and for athletes like Don Paige, a renowned track runner, who was left to watch the race he knew he could win.