5 CHAPTER A Troubled Time US President Jimmy Carter delivers his famous speech on July 15 1979 1 Olympic hockey was not on many people’s minds on July 15 1979 It was a Sunday night People throughout the United States were uncertain about the future Many people didn’t have jobs Prices of everyday products were going up Meanwhile tensions were high between the world’s two superpowers the United States and the Soviet Union Their indirect Cold War had been threatening to turn into a real war since the end of World War II 1939 1945 Then some Middle Eastern countries had refused to sell oil to the United States That caused an oil shortage throughout the country Oil is needed to make gas Cars lined up for hours to refuel So on that Sunday night many people tuned in to watch President Carter give a televised speech The country faced a crisis of confidence he said
6 The erosion of our confidence in the future is threatening to destroy the social and the political fabric of America he said Herb Brooks had his own problems that summer The University of Minnesota men’s hockey coach had been hired to coach the US Olympic team The 1980 Olympic Winter Games would be held in Lake Placid New York Brooks had less than a year to build his squad Few liked his chances of leading Team USA to a medal The Soviet Union was dominant in international hockey It had won each of the previous four Olympic gold medals Czechoslovakia had won a medal in each of those Winter Games Meanwhile Team USA won only a single medal a silver during that time The Soviets and Czechs also had an advantage in selecting players Rules at the time limited Olympic competition to amateurs In the United States ENERGY CRISIS President Carter’s 1979 speech followed an energy crisis A lot of the world’s oil comes from the Middle East In 1979 a revolution in Iran forced that country’s leader to flee The country became unstable It slowed the amount of oil it sent around the world drastically This led to increased gas prices in the United States and elsewhere Another earlier energy crisis had occurred in 1973 Israel battled its neighboring Arab countries in the Yom Kippur War The United States supplied Israel with weapons and equipment for the war Many Middle Eastern countries were upset about this So they refused to sell oil to the United States or its allies
7 the best athletes were professionals They were paid to compete in the National Hockey League NHL So Brooks was limited mostly to college players But the Soviets Czechs and other communist countries had their choice of players That’s because those countries provided jobs for the best athletes Those athletes barely worked at all Instead they spent most of their time training for sports But technically the athletes were paid for the jobs not their sports That allowed the athletes to keep their amateur status Herb Brooks coached the University of Minnesota hockey team before taking over the 1980 US Olympic team
