State Papers – Day One: US call for Olympic boycott over Afghan war

In the light of current difficulties in Afghanistan, it is ironic that the country was very much in the news in 1980, because forces from the Soviet Union were occupying the country.

On January 20, 1980, US President Jimmy Carter sent a telegram informing the Taoiseach he had requested the president of the US Olympic Council (USOC) to “work with other national Olympic committees to seek the transfer or cancellation of the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games unless the Soviet Union withdraws its troops from Afghanistan within the next month”.

“I believed that such action is necessary to support the position of the United Nations General Assembly, to convince the Soviet Government and people of the world’s outrage at Soviet aggression in Afghanistan and to deter future aggression,” Carter wrote. “I urge the USOC to propose that the games either be transferred to another site such as Montreal or to multiple sites, or be cancelled for this year.”