The Cold War and the 1984 Olympic Games

The Cold War and the 1984 Olympic Games PDF Author: Philip D’Agati
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1137360259
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 123

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Book Description
The Soviet boycott of the 1984 Olympic Games is explained as the result of a complex series of events and policies that culminated in a strategic decision to not participate in Los Angeles. Using IR framework, D'Agati developes and argues for the concept of surrogate wars as an alternative means for conflict between states.

The Cold War and the 1984 Olympic Games

The Cold War and the 1984 Olympic Games PDF Author: Philip D’Agati
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1137360259
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 123

Get Book Here

Book Description
The Soviet boycott of the 1984 Olympic Games is explained as the result of a complex series of events and policies that culminated in a strategic decision to not participate in Los Angeles. Using IR framework, D'Agati developes and argues for the concept of surrogate wars as an alternative means for conflict between states.

Los Angeles and the 1984 Olympic Games

Los Angeles and the 1984 Olympic Games PDF Author: Josh R. Lieser
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781321551150
Category : Boycotts
Languages : en
Pages : 253

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Book Description
The 1984 Olympics offer an unprecedented opportunity to consider the way that sports were used as cultural and ideological warfare or soft power in the late stages of the Cold War era. Despite the Soviet Union's decision to boycott the Olympics in Los Angeles in 1984, the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics were a claimed "victory" by President Ronald Reagan in the Cultural Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. Los Angeles won the right to host the games, and was a politically prudent choice for the United States within the context of the Cultural Cold War. The complicated history of Los Angeles and its constructed post-WWII identity are important elements to the choice of Los Angeles as host city. The Soviet boycott of the 1984 Olympic Games by the Soviet Union is central to the buildup to 1984, but due to the financial success of the Games the Soviet absence was not the crisis that many predicted. This fact was largely due to how the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee utilized corporate sponsorship to make the most financially successful Olympic Games of all time while simultaneously creating a "look" for the Games that would present the United States and the city of Los Angeles in an idealized manner that appeared bereft of hyper-nationalism. The economic success of the Games was the greatest weapon the United States had in the cultural battle it fought in 1984. The cultural legacy of the 1984 Games also hinged on the 1984 Olympic Arts Festival which was organized by the LAOOC. The Olympic Arts Festival, like the Games, was an opportunity for the United States to create international influence and legitimacy while simultaneously claiming the position of diplomatic host nation. Through the exploration of these avenues, the 1984 Los Angeles Games are evidence of the significance of sports in the Cultural Cold War, the corporatization of sports, and the commodification of both sports and the Olympics through modern means of spectacle and profit motives.

The Real Cold War

The Real Cold War PDF Author: Josh Lieser
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Cold War
Languages : en
Pages : 186

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Book Description
A study of the nature and meaning of athletic competition between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War period. Internal politics, foreign policy, and cultural propaganda were directly influenced by these competitions, yet their importance is often overlooked. The U.S. and the U.S.S.R. engaged in a wide-ranging cultural Cold War, with athletic competition being an important part. The height of the cultural Cold War saw Olympic boycotts by the United States in 1980 and the Soviet Union in 1984.

Before the World was Quiet

Before the World was Quiet PDF Author: Brad Joseph Congelio
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 410

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Book Description
Upon becoming President of the United States in 1981, Ronald Reagan faced a rapidly deteriorating relationship with the Soviet Union in the midst of the ongoing Cold War, exacerbated by the events of the 1980s, including the 1980 Olympic boycott and President Jimmy Carter's administration. President Reagan's bellicose statements and staunch anti-communism stance further aggravated the situation, reasserting and deepening Cold War anxieties in the Soviet Union. Compared to his predecessors, Reagan was a war hawk determined to bring an absolute end to the Soviet Union and the socialist world. This was no more apparent than in his foreign policy towards the Soviet Union during his first four years in office when he initiated his desire for the strategic defense initiative, his massive American military buildup, and his decision to invade the Caribbean island of Grenada to stave off Soviet influence in the Third World. Each and every action taken by President Reagan was constructed in order to bring the Soviet Union to its knees via political and economic pressure. However, Reagan seemingly had a sudden change of stance when Los Angeles hosted the 1984 Olympic Summer Games. The Kremlin, in turn for Soviet Bloc attendance at the Olympics, requested several demands that had to be met - for example, the right for Soviet Aeroflot flights to land at Los Angeles International Airport and an unprecedented amount of security to protect Soviet athletes and interest. Reagan's decisions concerning the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Summer Games were a glaring anomaly when compared to the previous three years of Reagan's harsh anti-communism and hawkish actions and opinion regarding the Soviet Union. Drawing from declassified documents from the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum, this research examines how and why the Olympic Movement was able to transcend Cold War politics in regards to President Reagan meeting each and every one of the Soviet demands despite numerous outside pressures and occurrences making it increasingly difficult for him to do so.

The 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games

The 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games PDF Author: Matthew Llewellyn
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317502450
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 386

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Book Description
The 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games stand as the most profitable and arguably the most important event in the history of the modern Olympic movement. Fresh off the back of the financially disastrous Montreal Games of 1976 and the politically controversial Moscow Games of 1980, the Olympic movement returned to the United States for the sixth time in an attempt to salvage the economic viability and global prestige of the Olympics. The Los Angeles Olympics proved to be both provocative and polarizing. On the one hand they have been heralded as an overwhelming, transformative success, ushering the Olympic movement into the modern commercial age. On the other hand, critics have repudiated the Games as a manifestation of commercial excess and a platform for western political and cultural propaganda. In conjunction with the 30th anniversary of the Los Angeles Olympics, this volume examines their legacy. With an international collection of contributing scholars, this volume will span a range of global legacies, including the increasing commercialization of the Games, the changing participation of women, the Communist boycott movement, nationalism and sporting identity, and the modernization and California-cation of the Games. This book was originally published as a special issue of the International Journal of the History of Sport.

Cold War Pawn

Cold War Pawn PDF Author: Austin T. Harwell
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Boycotts
Languages : en
Pages : 204

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Book Description


Los Angeles and the 1984 Olympic Games

Los Angeles and the 1984 Olympic Games PDF Author: Josh R. Lieser
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781321551150
Category : Boycotts
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
The 1984 Olympics offer an unprecedented opportunity to consider the way that sports were used as cultural and ideological warfare or soft power in the late stages of the Cold War era. Despite the Soviet Union's decision to boycott the Olympics in Los Angeles in 1984, the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics were a claimed "victory" by President Ronald Reagan in the Cultural Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. Los Angeles won the right to host the games, and was a politically prudent choice for the United States within the context of the Cultural Cold War. The complicated history of Los Angeles and its constructed post-WWII identity are important elements to the choice of Los Angeles as host city. The Soviet boycott of the 1984 Olympic Games by the Soviet Union is central to the buildup to 1984, but due to the financial success of the Games the Soviet absence was not the crisis that many predicted. This fact was largely due to how the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee utilized corporate sponsorship to make the most financially successful Olympic Games of all time while simultaneously creating a "look" for the Games that would present the United States and the city of Los Angeles in an idealized manner that appeared bereft of hyper-nationalism. The economic success of the Games was the greatest weapon the United States had in the cultural battle it fought in 1984. The cultural legacy of the 1984 Games also hinged on the 1984 Olympic Arts Festival which was organized by the LAOOC. The Olympic Arts Festival, like the Games, was an opportunity for the United States to create international influence and legitimacy while simultaneously claiming the position of diplomatic host nation. Through the exploration of these avenues, the 1984 Los Angeles Games are evidence of the significance of sports in the Cultural Cold War, the corporatization of sports, and the commodification of both sports and the Olympics through modern means of spectacle and profit motives.

The Olympics and the Cold War, 1948-1968

The Olympics and the Cold War, 1948-1968 PDF Author: Erin Elizabeth Redihan
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476627282
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 273

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Book Description
For Olympic athletes, fans and the media alike, the games bring out the best sport has to offer--unity, patriotism, friendly competition and the potential for stunning upsets. Yet wherever international competition occurs, politics are never far removed. Early in the Cold War, when all U.S.-Soviet interactions were treated as potential matters of life and death, each side tried to manipulate the International Olympic Committee. Despite the IOC's efforts to keep the games apolitical, they were quickly drawn into the superpowers' global struggle for supremacy, with medal counts the ultimate prize. Based on IOC, U.S. government and contemporary media sources, this book looks at six consecutive Olympiads to show how high the stakes became once the Soviets began competing in 1952, threatening America's athletic supremacy.

The Olympic Cold War

The Olympic Cold War PDF Author: Shane R. Saum
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 88

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Book Description
This study examines the role of changing Cold War politics between the United States and the Soviet Union during the 1980 and 1984 Olympics. Rising Cold War tensions following the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan had both nations searching for low-risk political platforms to contest one another without the risk of military retaliation. The hosting of the Summer Olympics of 1980 and 1984 in Moscow and Los Angeles provided that platform. This study argues that the United States used the 1980 Olympic boycott as a symbolic shift away from détente politics and both Olympics were used to display the successes of each nation's economic system. Upon conclusion of the 1984 Olympics the United States had established a more aggressive foreign policy towards the Soviet Union and had hosted an economically successful Olympics when the Soviet Union had not. This study concludes that the 1980 Olympic boycott was successfully used by the United States as a political reprimand to the Soviet Union that its current foreign policy was unacceptable. After the 1980 boycott, the United States utilized the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics to demonstrate how a capitalist society could produce an economically successful Olympics when the Soviet Union had failed to in 1980. The Soviet Union attempted a boycott of its own but it paled in comparison to the 1980, U.S. led boycott. The 1980 and 1984 Summer Olympics became less about sport and more about the politics of the time. This study provides an example of how sport and politics need not be separated in historical discourse and can provide insight into larger political themes.

The Cold War and the 1984 Olympic Games

The Cold War and the 1984 Olympic Games PDF Author: Philip D’Agati
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1137360259
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 214

Get Book Here

Book Description
The Soviet boycott of the 1984 Olympic Games is explained as the result of a complex series of events and policies that culminated in a strategic decision to not participate in Los Angeles. Using IR framework, D'Agati developes and argues for the concept of surrogate wars as an alternative means for conflict between states.