Author - John Coyne

Mad Man Jules Pagano Jules Pagano was not a Mad Man, though he could have played one on the t.v. show. Yes, he smoked. God, they all smoked! And drank! And partied!  Jules was more of a character actor than a Leading Man at the early Peace Corps and spent his years there as  Chief of the Division of Professional and Technical Affairs. (Yes, Virginia, they did have stupid titles like that even in the ’60s.) Jules had a breezy, laid-back, amusing, and charming persona. He was like great poetry: there was more than one level of meaning to Jules. And like a good union organizer (which he had been) he held his cards close to his chest. If anyone could draw to an inside straight, it was Jules Pagano. I knew Jules best for a short period in the spring of 1965 when he organized the unions segment for . . .

PEACE CORPS UPDATE ON IMPLEMENTATION OF THE KATE PUZEY PEACE CORPS VOLUNTEER PROTECTION ACT Posted on August 1, 2013 by Peace Corps The health, safety and security of Volunteers are Peace Corps’ highest priorities, and they underlie each and every aspect of the agency’s reform efforts over the last few years. Peace Corps has made extraordinary progress in establishing new policies and practices that reflect an absolute commitment to reducing risks for Volunteers and responding effectively and compassionately when crime does occur. There has been nothing short of a broad culture shift at Peace Corps, and the agency’s new approach is Volunteer-centered every step of the way. Peace Corps has worked with leading experts to develop a comprehensive Sexual Assault Risk Reduction and Response program, which includes more than 30 policy changes; extensive sexual assault risk reduction and response training for both volunteers and staff; and new, clearly defined procedures . . .

Being published this coming October is Camelot’s Court: Inside the Kennedy White House by historian Robert Dallek, author of the  previous Kennedy book, An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy, 1917-1963 and Nixon and Kissinger, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, among other books. This new book offers, according to the press release, “a penetrating look at the inner circle or brain trust that defined the Kennedy administration.” As we know, the Peace Corps in 1960 was Kennedy’s experiment in international development that others called a wacky and dangerous idea. The Daughters of the American Revolution warned of a “yearly drain” of “brains and brawn…for the benefit of backward, underdeveloped countries.” Former President Eisenhower declared it a “juvenile experiment,” and Richard Nixon said it was another form of “draft evasion.” Not everyone among Kennedy’s ‘best and the brightest’ were keen on the Peace Corps idea. Kennedy’s staff had been thinking of . . .

In November 2011, Congress enacted the Kate Puzey Peace Corps Volunteer Protection Act to ensure that volunteers serving abroad can access the care, support, and resources they need to prevent, respond to, or recover from a sexual assault.  Since the passage of the law, First Response Action has closely monitored Peace Corps’ implementation efforts to make sure it is creating a volunteer-centered program as envisioned by the law.  Relying on information provided by the Peace Corps and reports issued by federal agencies, First Response Action presents its first “report card” assessing the agency’s work thus far. First Response Action applauds Peace Corps’ progress in a few key areas.  Indeed, most of the agency’s progress implementing the Act has occurred during Carrie Hessler-Radelet’s tenure as Acting Director since October 2012.  First Response Action also appreciates the agency’s cooperation in providing updates on its implementation efforts.  The reality remains, however, that the . . .

FRA Releases First Report Card Assessing Peace Corps’  Implementation of Kate Puzey Act Report Highlights Gaps, Calls on Peace Corps To Promptly and Fully Implement the Law, and Expresses Concerns With Peace Corps’ Outdated Sexual Assault Definitions and Lack of Robust Whistleblower Program July 31, 2013 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Casey Frazee (513-518-4936); Karestan Koenen (646-765-8992); Madhu Chugh (202-663-6529) WASHINGTON – First Response Action (FRA) released its first report card today assessing the Peace Corps’ progress in implementing the Kate Puzey Peace Corps Volunteer Protection Act, the law passed by Congress in November 2011 to ensure that volunteers serving abroad have access to the care, support, and resources they need to recover from a sexual assault.  Assigning an overall grade of “C,” FRA found major gaps in Peace Corps’ compliance with the law.  According to Peace Corps’ own 2012 Annual Volunteer Survey Results, crimes of sexual assault committed against volunteers . . .

It started as a newsletter in November 1961. It was edited by three women: Betty Harris, Sally Bowles, and ET PCV Margery Michelmore who had famously put the Peace Corps on the front pages of every newspaper in the U.S. with her postcard written from the University College at Ibadan while she was still in training for Nigeria. The Volunteer newsletter quickly became a monthly that went to all PCVs, and as a magazine it was edited by Kellogg Smith for two years. Smith had come to the Peace Corps in September, 1962, after serving with the Democratic National Committee. He was for six years a copy editor with the San Francisco News-Call Bulletin, and before that spent seven years on the desk of the Cleveland Press. He also co-authored two textbooks on English grammar, and was a graduate of Williams College. At the Peace Corps, in December of ’64 . . .

The staff orientation instruction booklet for Charlotte Amalie, Virgin Islands, back in 1968 when the Peace Corps Training was done on St. Croix and St. Thomas, has an interesting piece of instruction for incoming training staff. One paragraph in the 9-page orientation pamphlet, which is mimeographed and stapled together, reads: LIVING ACCOMMODATIONS AT THE VITC The living accommodations at the VITC are not luxurious by any standards. Housing for married couples is not available unless specifically stated in writing by the Director of the VITC. Housing for single staff members is generally shared quarters. A single room provided with two beds, two chairs, one dresser, one standing wardrobe rack. Linen is distributed once weekly. Toilet and shower facilities are located in a separate building. There is no hot water at the St. Croix Camp and no flush toilets. The St. Thomas Camp is equipped with flush toilets, and in some . . .

[A couple weeks ago I posted what Jon Ebeling (Ethiopia 1962-64) had to say about Shriver visiting his town of Debra Marcus, and then seeing Shriver a few years later at the State Department in Washington. Here’s Shriver again talking about that visit to Debra Marcus, and quoting from a letter written by another PCV in that town, Dick Lipez (Ethiopia 1962-64). Sargent Shriver gave the one hundred Sixty-fifth Commencement of Georgetown University in early June of 1964. He talked, of course, about the Peace Corps, telling the graduates and their families that he had been at Chulalongkorn University in Thailand and was awarded an honorary degree to honor the Peace Corps and the 265 Volunteers serving in Thailand. Three of those Volunteers, he said, graduated from Georgetown. Then he went onto talk about eight Volunteers who had trained at Georgetown for the Peace Corps in the summer of ’62.] . . .