Archive - April 2013

I got an email the other day from David Raphael who was a college student back in 1962 and worked as an intern at the Peace Corps HQ.  My piece on Nan McEvoy got him thinking about the ‘other’ women in the building when he arrived in Washington from Antioch College in the summer of ’62. He was assigned to the Africa Regional Office and worked with, he said, two real power houses: Cynthia Courtney, English-speaking Africa Division Director, and Francesca Gobi, French-speaking Africa Division Director. David said that these women, and others in the Africa Regional Office, were all recruited from the Africa American Institute (AAI), which years later was exposed by Ramparts magazine as being a CIA front. Little did we know! I met Cynthia Courtney in the late summer of ’62 when I returned from Ethiopia and went to work in the Office of Volunteer Services (DVS). Cynthia was one of the . . .

Years ago, inspired by the television program Man Men, I began to do an occasional blog about the early founders of the agency, who I nicknamed, The Mad Men and Women of the Peace Corps. And indeed they were, back then in the early Sixties. From time to time I’d get comments from later PCVs, words to the effect that I get over it Coyne! Those days are long gone. Indeed they are. Still I’m going to document the people, the lives, and the times, as best I can, of those early years of the agency when everyone, and I mean everyone, didn’t give the Peace Corps a chance to survive, let alone thrive and be around so that they–later day PCVs–might have a chance to join an organization that would change their lives, and organization that today is something like Mom’s Apple Pie in the eyes of most Americans. So, keep quiet. I have more to say about . . .

The current issue of The Council of Independent Colleges newsletter, Independent has an article entitled, “Campuses Reap Benefits of Hosting Woodrow Wilson Visiting Fellows.” In Woodrow Wilson’s current impressive list of Fellows is a senior executive of the Coca-Cola company, a former U.S. ambassador to the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and ‘the former chief of staff for a U.S. Representative from California, our own Charles “Chic” Dambach (Colombia 1967-69). In a brief paragraph on the “Fellows” the article states: “Charles “Chic” Dambach’s wide-ranging career includes serving as chief of staff for U.S. Representative John Garamendi (D-CA) (Ethiopia 1966-68) and six years as president and CEO of the Alliance for Peacebuilding, during which he established a network of organizations and professionals to help built sustainable peace and security worldwide. Previously, Dambach restructured and revitalized the National Peace Corps Association, where his career began as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Colombia. He . . .

One of the original Mad Men of the Peace Corps, Harris Wofford, is 87 today. Wofford was the first person Sarge Shriver called when President Kennedy asked Shriver to establish a “Peace Corps” in the days after JFK became president. A year later, Harris would leave the White House, where he was  Special Assistant to the President on civil right, to become the first CD in Ethiopia, as well as, Shriver’s Peace Corps Representative in Africa. After two full years in Addis Ababa, Harris returned to Washington as the Associate Peace Corps Director. In the years before the Peace Corps, he was many things, including an early civil rights leader and advisor to Martin Luther King, all of which is describes in his book, Of Kennedy & Kings, that detailed his work with the Kennedys, the Peace Corps, and Dr. King.  After the Peace Corps, Harris would go onto be president of  two colleges, and later the Senator . . .

Jack Niedenthal’s first six years in the Marshall Islands were all spent in the isolated jungles of the outer islands. He was a Peace Corps Volunteer on Namu Atoll from 1981 to 1984. He then contracted to work with the Bikini Council on Kili Island from 1984 through late 1986 teaching English to the adults, teaching in the elementary school and working with the Kili/Bikini/Ejit Local Government Council. In 1987 he assumed the duties of the Trust Liaison for the People of Bikini, which includes the management and coordination of the funds allocated by the United States government to compensate the Bikinians for their suffering and to facilitate the radiological cleanup of Bikini Atoll. He acts as a liaison for the Council to the media, the U.S. government and its various agencies, the scientists who work on Bikini, the Bikini Council’s attorney, trustees, money managers, construction companies, engineers, project managers, . . .

Returned Peace Corps Volunteers – please join Peace Corps staff and Volunteers past and future as we pitch in to encourage volunteerism in honor of those lost on 9/11. Join us on April 21, 2013 for the 9/11 Memorial 5K Run/Walk and Family Day! The Peace Corps and RPCVs from the Greater New York City area have been invited to volunteer at this year’s Family Day. This free community event will include activities for all ages and food and refreshments. It will also offer information about the National September 11 Memorial & Museum as well as ways to learn more about volunteer opportunities in the spirit of the National 9/11 Day of Service and Remembrance. The date of the Run/Walk and Family Day – April 21 – marks the anniversary President Barack Obama signed into law legislation making 9/11 a day of service and volunteerism in the memory of the . . .

There were three PCVs who began their Peace Corps experience as employees of the agency in Washington, D.C., in early 1961 working at the original HQ the Maiatico Building across the street from Lafayette Square Park, and within sight of the White House. Two of them were Alan and Judith Guskin (Thailand 1961-64) who had on the night of October 14, 1960, created the ground surge for the Peace Corps on college campuses, first in Michigan, and then across the Mid West and the rest of America. Later they would go to Thailand as PCVs. The other person was Blair Butterworth. I am not sure how Blair arrived at the Peace Corps, or why, but he did arrive, a recent graduate of Princeton, and moved into Georgetown with another buddy, and started working as staff for the Peace Corps before going to Ghana as a PCV. Last year, at the . . .

Sh*t Blair Butterworth Said Seattle lost a political legend with the death of master strategist Blair Butterworth. In his memory, a compendium of his greatest quips. By Knute Berger April 02, 2013 Politics lost a local legend last week with the death of Seattle Democratic political consultant Blair Butterworth (Joel Connelly’s obit is here). One thing Butterworth was known for: quotability. He was, in the terms of old-school press coverage, a “phrase maker,” a guy whose pithy comments about state, local or national politics could make a reporter’s or columnist’s copy sound better. In his memory then, a few bits gleaned from the archives. On Frank Blethen’s threat to move the Seattle Times to the Eastside in 2001: “‘I think anyone reading the comments would think he’s just been seething until he finally imploded,’ Butterworth said, adding that Blethen’s statements were so ‘bizarre’ they wouldn’t be taken seriously. However, Butterworth . . .

From the Seattle Times Longtime Democratic political consultant Blair Butterworth died Friday at 74. By Jim Brunner Seattle Times political reporter Blair Butterworth dies of cancer at 74. When Democratic campaign consultant Blair Butterworth met gubernatorial candidate Dixy Lee Ray in her small trailer in 1976, the irascible pair shared a bottle of scotch and shouted at each other in an hours-long political argument. Nevertheless, a few months later Mr. Butterworth ran Ray’s successful campaign to become Washington’s first female governor. But after four years, Mr. Butterworth, like many Democrats, was at odds with Ray and helped then-state Sen. Jim McDermott oust her in the Democratic primary. Over a career that spanned more than three decades, Mr. Butterworth earned a reputation as one of state’s top political strategists, electing governors and mayors, passing school levies and the state’s Death With Dignity initiative. Mr. Butterworth died Friday at his Seattle home . . .