Archive - June 22, 2009

In mid-May John wrote about the “Fabulous Peace Corps Locker” — Part I, Part II and Part III. For a time Jack Prebis (Ethiopia 1962–64) was in charge of selecting the books for the Book Locker and he shared with us the list of books provided to new PCVs in 1964. • LITERATURE Fiction American Classics Democracy – Henry Adams The Good Earth – Pearl Buck Red Badge of Courage & Four Stories – Stephen Crane Pulitzer Prize Reader – Leo Hamalian & Edmond L Volpe Outcasts of Poker Flat & Other Tales – Bret Harte The Scarlet Letter – Nathaniel Hawthorne The Four Million & Other Stories – O. Henry The Sun Also Rises – Ernest Hemingway Turn of the Screw & Daisy Miller – Henry James Babbitt – Sinclair Lewis Call of the Wild & White Fang – Jack London Moby Dick – Herman Melville The Fall of . . .

 Step # 2 Move Recruitment To PC/Washington  Today, Recruitment for the Peace Corps is divorced from the role of the staff in  PC/Washington. Few people at HQ (beyond those doing selection) have any idea of what is coming down the pike. New recruits arrive at the airport ready to fly off to the developing world like so many free range chickens ready to be plucked. The Peace Corps needs to return to the most effective recruitment system the Peace Corps ever used. In April 1963, Bob Gale, who had been vice president for development at Carlton College in Northfield, Minnesota came to the Peace Corps and sold Shriver on blitz recruiting. Gale, who worked for Bill Haddad, then Associate Director for the Office of Planning and Evaluation, didn’t want to lose Gale, but Shriver told Haddad that recruiting was crucial to the Peace Corps. “The trouble,” Shriver told Haddad, “was . . .

Lawrence F. Lihosit (Honduras 1975-77) has started a campaign to get Peace Corps books into the Library of Congress.  Like all RPCVs, Larry is starting at the top to draw attention to his very good idea to save the history of the Peace Corps. Here’s his letter to President Obama on this issue. Lend your support. Write to the President. Here’s what Larry had to say: President Barack Obama 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, D.C. 20500 RE: CREATION OF A PEACE CORPS COLLECTION AT THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS June 21, 2009 Dear Mr. President: If you want to read my Peace Corps’ firsthand experience book (South of the Frontera), you can’t. Don’t bother to look for it. It is out of print and even after nearly fifty years, the Peace Corps has not established a depository for books written by Americans who sacrificed. There is not even a shelf in the . . .