Archive - March 6, 2015

The death of Father Ted Hesburgh brought back to mind a story I heard about Father Ted and Warren Wiggins that happened in the early days of the agency. As we all know, the Rev. Theodore Hesburgh, “Father Ted” who transformed the University of Notre Dame into an academic power during his 35 years as president, died last week. Father Ted was also a key figure in the creation of the Peace Corps. In 1997 I interviewed the late Warren Wiggins about his role in the early days of the agency. For those who do not know, Warren, with Bill Josephson, wrote “A Towering Task” which was a working paper that they sent to Sargent Shriver in early ’61 as Sarge was in the beginning stages of designing the agency. Wiggins came “on board” then, and eventually became the Deputy Director. When I interviewed Warren in 1997, I asked him . . .