The room was silent after Vance’s remarks. Even the Americans in the audience thought the speech was a disaster. “That night was the only time in my life I’ve been embarrassed to be an American,” Phil Wolff, the chief of staff of the Lake Placid games, said. “I spent three years fighting in World War II. Nobody has a deeper love of this country than I do, but that was not right to be so derogatory and political when we’re supposed to be welcoming all our guests from around the world.”

In the end, the IOC affirmed its intent to hold the games in Moscow. But the White House was unbowed. Cutler drafted legislation that would give the president legal authority to prevent the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) from participating in the Olympics and ban all U.S. media organizations from sending reporters to Moscow. Lawyers in the Department of Justice protested, noting that Congress had refused to grant the president the power to control the media even during wartime. Cutler also continued to advance the idea of holding alternate games about two weeks after the Olympics, “to be held at several sites including an American site, open to athletes from all nations, including those who go to Moscow.” But the idea wasn’t catching on.

All the while, the Winter Olympics were eroding the case for a boycott, demonstrating the power of simply competing and beating the Russians. In one of the sport’s most historic upsets—the “miracle on ice”—the U.S. hockey team beat a heavily favored Soviet squad, capturing the public’s imagination. “The Olympic situation seems to be disintegrating,” one White House aide warned Brzezinski. “If we are not careful, our magnificent hockey win may fuel domestic sentiment against the boycott.” Brzezinski was ready to thrown in the towel. Nelson Ledsky, head of the State Department task force on the boycott, warned Vance in early March: “The starch seems to be slowly going out of our boycott effort.”