Archive - July 23, 2009

Segments of the U.S. Press were all over the postcard incident. The U.S. News and World Report wrote,” From the moment of its inception, despite laudable aims, the Peace Corps was bound to run into trouble.” They condemned the naiveté of the entire concept and claimed, “this is only the first big storm.” Commonweal wrote in an editorial “The problem involved is really bigger than the Peace Corps for it reflects the gap that exists between the wealthy U.S. and most of the rest of the world. Given this fact, incidents like the postcard affair are bound to happen.” Former President Eisenhower added his two cents, saying the “postcard” was evidence of the worthlessness of Kennedy’s new idea However, columnist James Weschsler of the New York Post came to the aid of the Peace Corps and Marjorie. “Nothing in the card was sinister. It contained the instinctive expression of horror . . .

Peace Corps Volunteer Aubry Brown, who had had training and experience in non-violence resistance in the late fifties, led the Volunteers, and the Nigerian students, out of this confrontation over the postcard by the end of October, 1961. The Nigerian PCVs were take some meals and sleeping in the dormitories of the University, but they were isolated and shunned by the Nigerian students. Then Aubry Brown told the Nigerian students in his dorm that he would not eat if they would not eat with him. The Nigerians, seeing that Brown wasn’t eating, began to bring dinner trays to his room. Still he refused to eat. Next they invited him to join them at meals. Other Volunteers and Nigerian students began to eat meals together. Slowly, a dialogue began between the students and the Volunteers which was, as Murray recalls, “more valuable than if the incident had not taken place.” Other Nigerians came to . . .