Who Is President Jimmy Carter: Necessary Or Harmful?

On January 20, 1980, President Jimmy Carter sparked controversy for the ultimatum directed towards the Soviet Union in regards to the Moscow Olympics. Deep into the Cold War in December of 1979, The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan to support the Afghan government against growing insurgencies who were planning to overthrow the government. The United States was not happy with the Soviet’s interference, so Carter demanded that all Soviet Troops be removed within a month or the United States would not attend the Olympic Games. The Soviets did not respond to President Carter’s threat, so it was made clear that the United States athletes would not be traveling to Moscow later that year. Carter could not legally single handedly stop the United States
Athletes who had been training for months and even years were outraged when they learned they would not be able to compete. Craig Vain,a world record holder in Track in 1980, reflected upon the boycott to a New York Times reporter years later, "For me, it was just sad, because running was booming, and if I could have brought home a medal that year I would have been on a par with the top professional athletes in the country at the time." For many athletes like Vain, the 1980 Olympics was not only their one and only shot for fame and money but also to prove to themselves that they could it. Carter took away their chance and Vain and others are still resentful about it. This, in addition to the belief that the Olympics were supposed to celebrate the accomplishments of the world’s best, not be interfered by politics added to the anger of many. "The athletes were distressed at the use of the Olympics and the American athletes for a political agenda. That's sort of counter to the whole Olympic Games, especially in the US where the government doesn't support the athletes at all but then sort of feel like [Carter] has a right to use us…” said rower, Carol Brown. This political cartoon from the time of the Olympics shows the strong emotions of how the athletes felt that they were being chained and prevented from competing.
Carter’s plan backfired in major economic ways within the United States. NBC, the news company, had arranged to have exclusive coverage of the Olympics with the Soviet Union. The Chicago Tribune reported in 1980 that even though NBC had insured a large portion of their investment, they would lose a significant amount of money including from shipping costs of equipment. In addition, the Tribune reported, “There is no way to put a dollar figure on the loss of the ratings boost by the airing of the games.” In addition, the Soviet’s were unchanged regarding their position on Afghanistan. The Boycott did not affect the number of troops in Afghanistan and the war continued for almost ten years after Carter declared the Boycott. Finally, the Soviets returned the Boycotting “favor” to the United States by boycotting the next olympic games in 1984 in Los Angeles. In the long run, the boycott of the 1980 Olympics did not help the United States gain political