The Boycott Episode

In 1980, Jimmy Carter's administration leaned on the US Olympic Committee to boycott the Moscow Games.  Today, there are calls for the US to once again boycott the Olympics—this time in Beijing. What are the lessons of the 1980 boycott? Can sport ever be an effective instrument of foreign policy? And does the US any longer have the credibility as the "leader of the free world" to take a stance on human rights. Adam talks to Joe Onek, Deputy Counsel to President Carter who managed the White House's efforts to boycott the Olympics, and the historians Nicholas Sarantakes and Patrick Andelic.

Download this episode here.