It almost seems as if the domestic side of affairs drove the
Carter decision to boycott the 1980 Olympics. It may not have been a very
popular decision amongst athletes, and it definitely wasn’t among the officials
of the United States Olympic Committee like Robert Kane, but amongst the
general public it appears to have been massively popular. An ABC-Harris Survey
showed in March that 61 percent of Americans polled preferred a boycott. That
is down from the same poll in February, which showed that 75 percent favored a
boycott, however, these numbers are massive amounts of approval for a boycott
(ABC-Harris). In Washington, those numbers where even higher. Compare that to a
Chicago Tribune Poll of local readers showing 63 percent in favor of a boycott
in January (Chicago Tribune). It is also possible that this resounding support
is the reason that congress looked upon a boycott so favorably as well, it’s
hard to go against the majority in Washington and get re-elected.
Compare
this to Carters responses abroad. He had mixed results in Africa, where the very
leaders Muhammad Ali was sent to convince talked the American representative out of his belief of the boycott. Margaret Thatcher firmly supported the boycott, however the British Olympic Committee did not stand with her (BBC). The Germans were also very skeptical that
a boycott would send the right message.
Carter must
have known that no response to Soviet expansionism would make him appear
impotent to the American public. While I haven’t looked into this question
enough as of yet, it appears as of now that Carter chose the boycott in part
because of the immense domestic support. The administration seemed to know that
the boycott would have little to no effect on the number of Soviet boots in
Afghanistan, despite what the American people thought. Its possible then, maybe
even highly probable, that Carter choose the boycott because of the American
opinion and not because of the a goal to get the Soviets out of Afghanistan.
British Olympic Committee Decision to Defy the Government: http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/25/newsid_2531000/2531175.stm
Chicago Tribune Poll:
http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1980/01/27/page/16/article/what-polls-say
ABC-Harris National Opinion Poll:
http://www.harrisinteractive.com/vault/Harris-Interactive-Poll-Research-SUPPORT-FOR-US-BOYCOTT-OF-SUMMER-OLYMPICS-SLIPPING-1980-03.pdf
Politically it would have been a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" scenario. If we boycotted, the Russians would be able to say, "See? Americans meddle where they are not concerned!" And if we did not boycott, the Russians would also be able to say, "Implicitly the Americans are ok with our invasion." I believe the administration made this call more on social reasons than political due to the political side being so fickle.
ReplyDeleteIt makes sense that public opinion would have been in favor of boycotting the 1980 Olympics in response to Soviet expansion. This is right before the United States elected a president who called the Soviet Union the "Empire of Evil"
ReplyDeleteI'm interested to know the connection between the public opinion and boycott, though. Did Carter do or say anything to indicate that this decision was because of the public opinion? Given that those in favor decreased from 75% to 61% in only one month, it seems that this trend may have continued.
Very interesting fact--it does have a negative view today so I think this helps create complexity.
ReplyDelete