The Peace Corps

RONALD L. KRANNICH, Ph.D.(Thailand 1967 ETed) is one of today’s leading career transition and travel writers who has authored more than 100 books, including several self-help guides for people with difficult backgrounds.  A Fulbright Scholar, university professor, and management trainer, Ron specializes in producing and distributing books, DVDs, training programs, and related materials on employment, career transition, addiction, anger management, criminal justice, life skills, and travel. Originally from Pekin, Illinois), Ron stumbled into the world of travel and international development based on one fateful decision in 1965 – signed up for a newly offered foreign language as an undergraduate at Northern Illinois University – Thai. This became the classic “be careful what you wish for” experience. The rest is history as he completed Thai language work at Cornell University and joined the Peace Corps taught high school; completed a Ph.D. in Political Science with emphasis on Southeast Asia and local government; became . . .

The story behind one group’s grassroots effort to do just that   by Shanna Loga (Morocco 2006-08) An Injustice!  Sep 2020 • For many Americans, the Peace Corps is a treasured institution. It represents the idealism, generosity, and curiosity of our nation and symbolizes our spirit of humanitarianism. We imagine bright-eyed volunteers selflessly digging wells in Cameroon or teaching English in Ecuador. With its founding by JFK and its current mission of “promoting world peace and friendship,” the Peace Corps holds a special reverence in the national consciousness. Objectively, the Peace Corps is an independent US government agency and volunteer program. Peace Corps volunteers receive three months of in-country, international training before serving two-year terms abroad in sectors including agriculture, community economic development, education, environment, health, and youth development. The population of volunteers skews young, white, and female: the average age is 26, 65% are female, and 66% are white. Volunteers work alongside . . .

  A Critical Review of Wendy Melillo’s, Democracy’s Adventure Hero on a New Frontier: Bridging Language in the Ad Council’s Peace Corps Campaign, 1961-1970 published by Taylor & Francis Online by William Josephson Retired Partner, Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson LLP Founding Counsel, Peace Corps, 1961-66 Ms. Wendy Melillo’s, Democracy’s Adventure Hero to a New Frontier: Bridging Language in the Ad Council’s Peace Corps Campaign, 1961-1970, begins with the assertion that the Peace Corps “would be the only new proposal to emerge from a tight race in which the Massachusetts Senator [John F. Kennedy] won the popular vote by a slim margin.”  Yet, subsequently, she acknowledges his commitment to rethink Mutual Security military and foreign aid programs of the 1950s.  She never mentions Kennedy’s commitment to close the “missile gap.”  Although she mentions Sputnik, she does not mention his commitment to catch up to the Soviet Union in the . . .

  “A Towering Task: The Story of the Peace Corps” Alana DeJoseph Raising the Bar From Quaint to Crucial BY JOAN MEAD-MATSUI NOVEMBER 4, 2020 • Being a returned Peace Corps volunteer herself, Alana DeJoseph, producer, director, videographer, and editor, couldn’t help but think that an in-depth, comprehensive Peace Corps documentary was needed. “Peace Corps Film Director Reflects” ignites future discussions about the significant role the Peace Corps has played in the world with an eye on the future. Alana’s “A Towering Task: The Story of the Peace Corps,” a film she directed, follows the agency’s beginnings, first volunteers, and evolution in a style that will capture your heart and remind you how we can make a positive difference in our world. Alana’s heart has always been in documentaries. She has worked in video and film production for more than 30 years and while reflecting on her experiences in the . . .

  Published in Writers on the Range   When “All in the Family” hit the TV screens in 1971, the war in Vietnam was raging, cities from Washington, D.C., to Detroit, were charred from riots in the wake of Martin Luther King’s assassination, and many young people like me were leaving those cities, moving West to rural America. Archie Bunker stayed in Queens, where a “bar was a man’s castle,” while daughter Gloria and son-in-law “Meathead” tried to help Archie grasp hippies and anti-war protests. We called ours the “back to the land” movement, and we chuckled with Meathead as Archie Bunker got chuckles from our dads. But we were done watching “Leave it to Beaver” and “Ozzie and Harriet.” Our flexible families were radically changing. Well, the family has changed again, and, I’d argue that my own, occasionally dysfunctional family is closer to what’s happening in America now than . . .

By Harrison Smith November 16, 2020 Laurence Pope (Tunisia 1967-69), a veteran diplomat and counterterrorism expert who came out of retirement to serve as the top U.S. envoy to Libya weeks after the 2012 attack that killed Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans in Benghazi, died Oct. 31 at his home in Portland, Maine. He was 75. The cause was pancreatic cancer, said his wife, Elizabeth Pope. In his 31 years as a diplomat, Mr. Pope helped shape Iran and Iraq policy at the State Department, was appointed ambassador to Chad by President Bill Clinton and served as political adviser to Gen. Anthony Zinni, head of Central Command, which manages U.S. forces in the Middle East. He had been retired for more than a decade when Islamist militants launched an assault on the American diplomatic compound in Benghazi on Sept. 11, 2012. The attack marked the first time a U.S. . . .

(WASHINGTON, D.C., Nov 19, 2020) – AmeriCorps today announced the Harris Wofford Joint Service Award, a new award for individuals who have served in both Peace Corps and AmeriCorps. Honoring the legacy of the late Senator Harris Wofford, who helped establish both the Peace Corps and AmeriCorps, the award will recognize more than 10,000 individuals who have already chosen to serve their country at home and abroad through both programs, as well as the thousands more who make that same commitment in the future. The Harris Wofford Joint Service Award will be available to individuals who have successfully completed both a full year of service in AmeriCorps, as well as service in Peace Corps or Peace Corps Response. “Each year, thousands of Americans make the commitment to serve through AmeriCorps and Peace Corps. Our country needs their service now more than ever, and this award is just one way we . . .

  NYTimes November 20, 2020 SEOUL, South Korea — Sandra Nathan spent 1966 to 1968 in a South Korean town as a young Peace Corps volunteer, teaching English to high school girls. Fifty-two years later, Ms. Nathan, now back in the United States, received a care package from South Korea that nearly brought her to tears. Ms. Nathan, 75, had been feeling increasingly isolated at home in Stephentown, N.Y. Reports about the exploding number of Covid-19 cases in the United States had made her anxious about going outside, where experts warned of second and third waves of infection. Then, early this month, she received a packaged labeled “Covid-19 Survival Box.” It was a gift from the South Korean government that contained ​100 ​masks and other items “as a token of our gratitude for your dedication to Korea.” “It was as if this box had been traveling to me since 1968,” . . .

  Due to the overwhelming positive response to the nomination of Kathleen Corey as Peace Corps Director, please send any further recommendations to nextpeacecorpsdirector@gmail.com.