UNITED STATES HISTORY

SECTION II
Part A
(Suggested writing time—45 minutes)
Percent of Section II score—45

Directions: The following question requires you to construct a coherent

essay that integrates your interpretation of Documents A-J and your
knowledge of the period referred to in the question. High scores will be
earned only by essays that both cite key pieces of evidence from the
documents and draw on outside knowledge of the period.

1. Discuss the underlying causes of the Unites States’ boycott of the 1980 Summer
Olympics in Moscow. What was the extent of public support for the boycott and
why?

Document A

Source: Jimmy Carter, Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan Address to the

Nation,
January 4, 1980.

Recently, there has been another very serious development which threatens the
maintenance of the peace in Southwest Asia. Massive Soviet military forces have invaded
the small, nonaligned, sovereign nation of Afghanistan, which had hitherto not been an
occupied satellite of the Soviet Union.
Fifty thousand heavily armed Soviet troops have crossed the border and are now
dispersed throughout Afghanistan, attempting to conquer the fiercely independent
Muslim people of that country….
This is a callous violation of international law and the United Nations Charter. It
is a deliberate effort of a powerful atheistic government to subjugate an independent
Islamic people.
We must recognize the strategic importance of Afghanistan to stability and peace.
A Soviet-occupied Afghanistan threatens both Iran and Pakistan and is a steppingstone to
possible control over much of the world's oil supplies.
The United States wants all nations in the region to be free and to be independent.
If the Soviets are encouraged in this invasion by eventual success, and if they maintain
their dominance over Afghanistan and then extend their control to adjacent countries, the
stable, strategic, and peaceful balance of the entire world will be changed. This would
threaten the security of all nations including, of course, the United States, our allies, and
our friends.
 Document B

Source: Jack Nelson, Los Angeles Times, January 12, 1980.

President Carter, in a new move to punish the Soviet Union for invading
Afghanistan, has launched a concerted campaign to marshal public support for boycotting
the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow or shifting them to another country.
Despite vigorous opposition to such proposals by the U.S. Olympic Committee,
Carter’s wife, Rosalynn, and Secretary of State Cyrus R. Vance spoke out Friday against
holding the Games in Moscow unless the Soviets withdraw their troops from
Afghanistan….
Carter himself has stopped short of calling publicly for either a boycott or
removal of the Games from Moscow, but he instigated the current Administration
campaign to stimulate public support for the proposals…
“The President can’t do this by himself,” a senior aide close to Carter said. “But if
there is enough public support for it—and so far there seems to be—he will have these
options ready to exercise if the Soviets refuse to withdraw from Afghanistan.”
A massive boycott or shifting of the Olympics from Moscow would be a
substantial blow to the Soviet Union, many specialists in Russian affairs believe,
affecting both Soviet leaders and ordinary Russians. The Kremlin has viewed the hosting
of the Olympics as a major opportunity to gain legitimacy and to present a favorable view
of Soviet life to the world, experts say.
One long-time government analyst of Soviet affairs… cautioned that Carter’s
move could backfire and embarrass the United States if it fizzled.

Document C

Source: Alan Maltun, Los Angeles Times, January 14, 1980.

More than half a million “Move the Moscow Olympics” labels left over from an
unsuccessful Jewish human rights campaign are being dusted off and pressed into
service. The revived effort was touched off by the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
The newly formed Citizens Committee to Move the Moscow Olympics plans to
sell the bright red stamp-size stickers to opponents of the upcoming games….
“Many people thought sports should be separated from politics and no one bought
the labels,” Gerber [committee chairman] said. “The public was just not ready for them.”
 Document D

Source: Jeff Prugh, Los Angeles Times, Jan 15, 1980.

Declaring that the Soviets “are as afraid of us as we are of them,” former U.N.
Ambassador Andrew Young said Monday that he disagrees with Carter Administration
attempts to punish the Soviet Union by encouraging a multination boycott of the 1980
Olympic Games in Moscow or by a transfer of the competition to another country.
“It really kind of hurts us—in the sense that it turns the Olympics into a total
Soviet propaganda forum,” Young told reporters…
Young… conceded that President Carter has “got to do something,” but he said he
believed that American participation in the Games would enhance understanding and
reduce tensions with the Soviet Union.
“I think if the U.S. is involved and you bring a thousand journalists from the Free
World into the Soviet Union and hundreds of thousands of tourists, ultimately, in the long
run, that’ll do more to help the Russians understand what we’re about,” Young said. “My
feeling is that there is no way we can live in this world without learning to get along with
the Russians.”

Document E

Source: Jimmy Carter, Text of Carter’s Letter to President of the U.S. Olympic
Committee, New York Times, Jan 21, 1980.

I regard the Soviet invasion and the attempted suppression of Afghanistan as a

serious violation of international law and an extremely serious threat to world peace. This
invasion also endangers neighboring independent countries and access to a major part of
the world’s oil supplies. It therefore threatens our own national security, as well as the
security of the region and the entire world.
We must make clear to the Soviet Union that it cannot trample upon an
independent nation and at the same time do business as usual with the rest of the world.
We must make clear that it will pay a heavy economic and political cost for such
aggressions. That is why I have taken the severe economic measures announced on Jan
4….
I want to reaffirm my own personal commitment to the principles and purposes of
the Olympic movement. I believe in the desirability of keeping government policy out of
the Olympics, but deeper issues are at stake.
In the Soviet Union international sports competition is itself an aspect of Soviet
government policy, as is the decision to invade Afghanistan…..
The Soviet government attaches enormous political importance to the holding of
the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow and if the Olympics are not held in Moscow
because of Soviet military aggression in Afghanistan, this powerful signal of world
outrage cannot be hidden from the Soviet people.
Document F

Source: Los Angeles Times, January 21, 1980.

American athletes were sharply divided Sunday in their opinions of President
Carter’s call for movement, postponement or cancellation of the 1980 Summer Olympics
in Moscow if the Soviet Union does not remove its forces from Afghanistan within a
month….
“We’re Americans first and athletes second,” said Lee Palles, the United States’
eight-ranked decathlon competitor. “I pretty much support the President. It’s a two-way
sword. But I would really appreciate it if they move the Games to another site, even if
they have to delay it a year.”
Longtime Olympic swim Coach George Haines, who opposes U.S. participation
in the Games unless the Soviets pull out of Afghanistan, made a plea for time.
“I think the government should give us a chance to have trails, select teams and
then if negotiations do not work out, pull out at the last minute…. To boycott so early and
not give people any chance at all is not fair.”
[Harvey Glace, a member of the 197I Olympic team, said,] “I’d favor not going
only if there was any danger to the athletes. I don’t think the Olympic Games should be
linked to international politics.”
 Document G

Source: Los Angeles Times, June 24, 1980.

 Document H

Source: Clark M. Clifford, Chicago Tribune, July 20, 1980.

OUR COUNTRY HAS reacted very strongly to Soviet aggression into

Afghanistan. But I am sure any number of individual Americans must have said, “Why
are we disturbed over Afghanistan? I don’t even know where it is. I am not sure I have
ever heard about it before. I have no interest in it. It is 7,000 miles away. Why should I be
concerned about Afghanistan?” The answer is, you cannot look at it alone. It is not an
isolated occurrence. It is one element in a broad mosaic and you have to look at the
incursion of the Soviets into Afghanistan in this broad context.
First: for 20 years the Soviets have been engaged in a massive and unique military
buildup. We have never seen anything like it before. I do not know what the reason for it
is. We can guess but we do not know. Now is it truly a massive buildup? …
The Soviet expenses have increased steadily for the last 20 years. Relative to the
United States, the Russian defense effort now is about 50 per cent higher than the United
States’ in dollars. The Soviet investment in research and new weapons is 85 per cent
higher than that of the United States…. They have increased their armed forces by one
million men. They have quintupled the number of their strategic nuclear delivery
vehicles. They have improved their accuracy. They have added 25 new divisions to their
ground forces. They have a new type of tank. They have new self-propelled artillery.
Document A
This excerpt from a speech by President Carter shows his response to the
Afghanistan invasion immediately following the event. This speech clearly shows a Cold
War viewpoint, specifically the containment of communist powers, which links directly
to the Truman Doctrine. Carter specifically talks about how this invasion threatens the
security of all independent nations, and is a violation of international law. Carter also
addresses the idea of the domino effect, when he expresses concern over the possible fall
of other Middle Eastern countries, such as Pakistan and Iran. This document can be used
to show the importance of Cold War ideas in the U.S.’s response to the invasion. The
speech also discusses the invasion’s threat to the world oil supply. Carter’s concern for
the oil supply reflects the energy crisis that occurred during his presidency.

Document B
This document can be used to show both public support and public opposition to
the boycott. If a student wanted to use this article to show that the public supported the
boycott, he/she could use the quote by the White House aide, who said, “The President
can’t do this by himself… But if there is enough public support for it—and so far there
seems to be—he will have these options ready to exercise if the Soviets refuse to
withdraw from Afghanistan.” The student could discuss how Carter needed to have broad
support for the boycott for it to work, as well as the fact that this was an era when, as a
whole, the United States opposed the Soviet Union’s ideas and actions. If the student was
using this document to show opposition to the boycott, he/she could use the quote by the
government analyst of Soviet affairs. He addresses the consequences to the United States
if the boycott did not go as planned and backfired, especially because the boycott mixed a
non-political event with politics.

Document C
This document shows public support for the boycott, as well as reasons, other
than the Afghanistan invasion, why U.S. citizens wanted to boycott the Olympics. The
article shows that before the invasion people were already supporting boycotting/moving
the Olympics because of human right violations by the Soviet Union. Although this first
campaign wasn’t very successful, it showed that the idea of mixing Cold War policies
and the Olympics was already being spread before the invasion of Afghanistan. The
article also says that before the Afghanistan invasion U.S. citizens were not ready for the
drastic step of boycotting the Olympics, but after the invasion people were beginning to
support a boycott. The student could also cite that citizen committees were formed to
help support the boycott of the Olympics.

Document D
In this document, Young expresses a view against the boycott of the Olympics.
This document can be used to show the reasons people believed the boycott was a bad
idea. Young addresses the idea that the Carter administration is turning the Olympics into
a “total Soviet propaganda forum.” He expresses the belief that the Olympics should be
separated from political actions, which is in direct contrast to Carter’s opinion in
Document E. Young also addresses why letting the U.S. participate in the Olympics may
be good. He brings up the fact that no solution between the U.S. and the Soviet Union
will be achieved as long as the tensions keep escalating. Young is trying to think of a
solution to help stop the Cold War, instead of just continuing to build the tension between
the two nations.

Document E
In this article President Carter is addressing the President of the U.S. Olympic
Committee. He is detailing all the reasons why he believes a boycott is necessary. The
Cold War mentality is shown by Carter when he says, “This invasion also endangers
neighboring independent countries.” Carter also mentions the fact that normally the
Olympics and politics do not mix, but because of the aggressive action of the Soviet
Union, the separation cannot be kept. He addresses the fact that the Soviet Union views
the Olympics as a political event, and so the U.S. must as well. This article shows how
the government’s power can be expanded during times when the country feels threatened.

Document F
This article addresses the opinions of the American athletes who were asked to
boycott the Olympics. The article shows the patriotism of the time, as one athlete said,
“We’re Americans first, and athletes second.” Other people were less supportive, stating
that they believed that although they understood the reasons for the boycott they believed
they should have a chance to compete. Some athletes wanted the U.S. to give the Soviet
Union more time to leave Afghanistan before pulling out of the Olympics. A former
Olympic athlete also stated that as long as there is no danger to the athletes they should
be able to compete. This article can be used to show support and opposition to the
boycott as well as to show that the government was stepping into an issue that they
normally would not. This document shows the presence of American patriotism in face of
the threat of communist expansion.

Document G
This comic portrays a smiling and waving group of Americans in the Olympic
stadium who are led by a sullen man carrying an “American Grain Trading Companies”
sign. Along with boycotting the Moscow Olympics, the U.S. also issued a grain embargo
to harm the Soviet Union financially. From the looks of the comic, the student can infer
that the American Grain Trading Companies were not happy with the embargo because
the loss of trade would hurt the companies and their farmers. The men waving the flag
and celebrating behind the man with the “American Grain Trading Companies” sign
could be congress and other officials, who were fully in support of the grain embargo,
Olympic boycott and other acts taken against the Soviet Union. This document could be
used to show how the political steps taken in reaction to the Soviet invasion of
Afghanistan were led and supported mainly by government officials, instead of the
public.

Document H
 This article shows some of the many reasons for the U.S.’s decision to boycott the
Olympics. It can be used to show that Afghanistan was not the only reason for the
boycott, but was just one of many issues that made the U.S. felt threatened by the Soviet
Union. The article sites a massive military buildup, as well as increased Soviet spending
in defense efforts, and an increase of armed forces. The article shows the distrust between
the U.S. and the Soviet Union, which can be related to the Cold War environment that
was influencing U.S. opinions at that time. This article can also be used to address the
reasons behind the boycott, both ideological and political.
Outside Information
Cold War
Truman Doctrine- containment of communist powers
Afghanistan invasion (December 27, 1979), Soviet War in Afghanistan (1979-1989)
SALT I
SALT II (Carter asking for delay of ratification by Senate)
U.S. Support to Afghan Mujahideen during the Soviet War in Afghanistan (Charlie
Wilson)
Instability in the Middle East
U.S. support to Pakistan
U.S.’s worry that the Soviets would gain control of the Indian Ocean
Assassination of Afghanistan’s President, Hafizullah Amin
The 1979 Energy Crisis
Threat of Soviet control of the majority of the world’s oil supply
Trade Embargo with Soviet Union (grain, technology, fishing privileges in U.S. waters)
Soviet Boycott of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics
Iran Hostage Crisis
Marxism and link to Soviet Union
Jimmy Carter’s fall in popularity
Economic troubles of Carter’s presidency- recession, inflation, etc.
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