For those with no knowledge of history, and/or can't do math:
The 1936 Olympic Games were held in Berlin, Germany; which was then under the government of Adolph Hitler and the Nationalist-Socialist Party. At this time, Germany was a de facto dictatorship, having dissolved (and outlawed) all vestiges of the previous democratic system under the Weimar Republic. The Nationalist-Socialist (Nazi) Party brutally repressed dissent with imprisonment and/or execution, dissolved trade unions, publicly sanctioned and supported violent repression of Jews and "racially inferior" minorities, and was pressing forward in developing a revitalized military / industrial base under central control of the Party. Party membership, although ostensibly voluntary, was required for civil-service employment; members were exempted from compliance with many existing laws, and could only be tried in special courts.
A fundamental aspect of the Nazi doctrine was the racial, physical, cultural, and moral superiority of individuals of "pure" Nordic (Aryan) descent. This rhetoric was widely diseminated and especially prevelent at the commencement of the 1936 Olympic Games.
Ironically, James Cleveland (Jesse) Owens, a US track team member, won four Gold Medals:
100 meter dash - 10.3 sec (tying the existing Olympic record),
200 meter dash - 20.7 sec (setting new Olympic and world records),
Running Broad Jump - 26 ft 5 3/8 in. (setting a new Olympic record),
400 meter team relay - 39.8 sec (a new Olympic and world record).
Adolph Hitler refused to acknowledge Jesse Owens outstanding accomplishment because he was black.
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IMO - Giving the Games to the PRC amounts to the same type of fawning appeasement that European governments engaged in with Nazi Germany in 1936. And although the vote is secret, it would appear that the US gave it's vote to the PRC (rather than Canada) in order to position itself for hosting the Games in 2012 . . . :disgust: