Archive - 2010

A small group of Peace Corps planners began to gather in the two-room suite at the Mayflower Hotel in February 1961 to develop the concept of a Peace Corps. At first with Shriver was Harris Wofford, then a Presidential Aide, and Richard Goodwin, also a Presidential Aide who went onto become a Deputy Assistant Secretary of State. They were soon joined by others recruited by Shriver and Wofford: Edwin Bayley, Executive Assistant to the Governor of Wisconsin; Bradley Patterson, Jr., Assistant Secretary of the Eisenhower Cabinet. He would become the Peace Corps Executive Secretary. Gordon Boyce, President of the Experiment in International Living; Bill Moyers, then Vice President Johnson’s Administrative Assistant; Lawrence Dennis, the Vice President of Pennsylvania State University, William Haddad, a newspaper reporter and former assistant to Robert Kennedy and Estes Kefauver; Atlanta lawyer Morris Abram; Al Sims, Vice President of the International Institute of Education; psychologist, Dr. Nicholas Hobbs, state government executive . . .

Dr. Jack Allison (Malawi 1967-69) is back from Haiti, but the Malawi Contingent of RPCVs and Peace Corps Staff continue their work in-country. Dr. Tom Powers (Malawi 1967-69) and Andrew Oerke (PC Staff: Tanzania, Uganda, CD Malawi, CD Jamaica 1966-71) with Dr. Anitra Thorhaug are still on the ground. Jack has returned to raise funds for their work. Over the weekend, Anita wrote me, “Today the United Nations water and food started flowing to a group of more than 500 families in the epicenter village of Gressier where no supplies or medical care had previously occurred since the quake. Dr. Powers, who is assessing medical needs, has recently been in disasters in Central and South America. We have disaster coordinator Livio Valenti on the ground from FAO who was instrumental in mapping groups and getting the food and water flowing. From Dr. Jack Allison I hear, “we literally treated hundreds of . . .

[The Peace Corps, as an agency, was created in 30 days, but those were the days when the Kennedy Kids knew how to get things done! By the time this Response Corps gets its act together and sends its first RPCVs to Haiti the children needing food and medical attention will be in college. “It will take time for us to assess what Peace Corps can do in Haiti,” writes Laura Smail in her form e-mail to RPCVs calling the Peace Corps. Really? Don’t tell that to Shriver, Wofford, and Wiggins. In February of 1961 they met in two-rooms at the Mayflower and with a handful of people inside and out of government created a whole new organization that was signed into law by March 1, 1961. Maybe if the Peace Corps saw the situation in Haiti as a ‘crisis’ and now simply something to ‘response to’ we’d have some action at HQ.] Laura’s . . .

Over the next year, leading up to the 50th Anniversary, I’ll be blogging short pieces of background information on the creation of the agency. I’ve done some of this already, as you know, but what follows is more details and facts on the ‘idea’ of a Peace Corps, and the first group of staff and PCVs. So, here’s # 1 Beginning in March of 1961, the Peace Corps had no Volunteers, little staff, no application form, no tests or testing centers, no selection process, no training program, no projects, no evaluation system, and no agreements with nations wanting Peace Corps Volunteers. There was intense interest–30 to 40,000 letters following the JFK’s speeches outlining the idea for a Peace Corps. There was authority, the March 1, 1961 Presidential Executive Order, 10924. And there was some research. Remember the Colorado State study Congress had conducted? There were also criticism, skepticism, disbelief and fear. It was between . . .

In case you’re wondering (or want to do your PHD on the Peace Corps) the first books and pamphlets on the agency in the first five years came out in 1961. There were four published that year. In 1962 one play was produced; 1963 had five more books in print; 1964 six books; three in 1965. They are: 1961 An International Peace Corps: The Promise and Problems, by Samuel P. Hayes published by Public Affairs Institute. It cost $1.00 (1961) Complete Peace Corps Guide, by Ray Hoopes, with an intnroduction by R. Sargent Shriver published by Dial Press. It cost $3.50. (1961) New Frontiers for American Youth: Perspective on the Peace Corps by Maurice L. Albertson, Andrew E. Rice and Pauline E. Birkey published by Public Affairs Press. It cost $4.50. (1961) Peace Corps: Who, How and Where by Charles E. Wingenbach, with a foreword by Hubert H. Humphrey published by John Day Company. It . . .

Photographer Damian Wampler (Kyrgyz Republic 1999–01) graduated from Boston University and served as an English teacher in the Kyrgyz Republic. He then earned a Master’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in Russian, Eastern Europe and Central Asian Studies with a concentration in Human and Political Geography. He was a Fulbright researcher in the Kyrgyz Republic from 2005–2006. In 2006 he moved to New York City to recruit for the Peace Corps and earn a Master’s degree in digital photography from the School of Visual Arts. Recently some of Damian’s work was part of a group exhibition called Face Time, where he showcased intimate portraits of New York City’s homeless. He has been a volunteer photographer for the Red Cross of Greater New York and for Heartgallery in New York City. Damian has been accepted into the U.S Foreign Service and is currently preparing to go to Tajikistan. • Darfur . . .