Peace Corps Volunteers as Global Citizens
CELEBRATING THE THIRD GOAL Peace Corps Volunteers as Global Citizens “I therefore propose . . . a Peace Corps of talented young men and women willing and able to serve their country . . . as ‘ambassadors of peace.’” — John F. Kennedy in his campaign speech at the Cow Palace, November 2, 1960 A day after his inauguration, President Kennedy called Sargent Shriver and asked him to start figuring out if the Peace Corps idea really made sense. Shriver immediately called Harris Wofford, who had worked on the campaign, and the two of them reached out to others. Among those were Warren Wiggins and Bill Josephson, who had written a 30-page proposal, “The Towering Task,” which became the new agency’s blueprint. This task force established three official goals for the Peace Corps, which Wofford later summarized in his book Of Kennedys & Kings: First Goal: It can . . .
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JOHN, many of us early 1960s RPCVs almost immediately got involved in Shriver's domestic OEO programs upon returning home. E.g.,…