The Peace Corps

On its second birthday, March 1, 1963, the Peace Corps counted 624 Volunteers at work in the Philippines. Except for 22 men assigned to a rural community action program in the large southern island of Mindanao, the so-called “Texas of the Philippines,” all the Volunteers, men and women, were employed as teachers—some at the university and secondary levels but most of them in elementary schools. This meant that the Philippines was the setting for the largest single overseas educational program that the United States had ever mounted. It was also by a considerable margin the largest program in the Peace Corps—and would continue to be so for 10 more months. As the Peace Corps planned the program in conformance with requests from the Philippines government—the republic served as host to 650 Volunteers by the autumn of 1963, some of whom were assigned for the first time to the lushly tropical . . .

By a common rule of politics, freshmen legislators are expected to keep their mouths closed and their ears open. Carlie Peters managed to shatter the rule without rousing so much as a dirty look. The fact that he may have set a record for first-term accomplishment in the West Virginia House of Delegates is, he admits, due to at least one unusual circumstance. “I had already served two years as clerk of the House Judiciary Committee,” Peter explains. “So I knew the other Delegates—and they knew me—before I was elected. Afterward, I was in quite a different position than if I had been a perfect stranger. I was a familiar figure in the Capitol and no one thought I was trying to be a whiz kid by pushing legislation.” In this situation, Peters went ahead—and rolled up a remarkable score. He drafted and sponsored the state’s first civil service law. . . .

It was apparent from the beginning that we would need talented people in the Maiatico Building, (the first Peace Corps HQ, across from Lafayette Square and the White House) who had wide experience in government work. The question was—how would we find them? We followed the principle that one good man would bring another. So Warren Wiggins got us Jack Young from NASA, a demon of energy and creativity who organized our management services. Jack Young got us Bill Kelly, who was the man at NASA in charge of efficiently moving such things as Saturn boosters from Huntsville, Alabama to Cape Canaveral. We decided he would be just the man to solve the problems of how best to transport Peace Corps Volunteers from the United States to the ends of the earth. Bill came to us on 3 days’ notice and he has performed one of the most outstanding jobs in . . .

  Thanks for the ‘heads up’ from William Evensen (Peru 1964-66) Current Auction Is Open For Bidding Our Current Auction Closes Nov 07         #59 – John F. Kennedy Signed Peace Corps Act Page Estimate: $10,000+ Page of the Peace Corps Act signed by President Kennedy Partial DS as president, signed “John F. Kennedy,” one page, 10 x 14, September 22, 1961. The seventh page of an early official printing of H. R. 7500, ‘An Act to provide for a Peace Corps to help the peoples of interested countries and areas in meeting their needs for skilled manpower,’ otherwise known as the ‘Peace Corps Act,’ boldly signed in the lower margin by President Kennedy. This section of the document outlines the general powers and authorities granted to the president under the act, and it appears to be from a printer’s proof of the act: an erroneous quotation mark . . .

Sargent Shriver Writes (Letter edited for length) I hope this booklet—Who’s Who in The Peace Corps—will give Peace Corps Volunteers in the field a little information about the quality and the background of the members of the Washington staff. Nothing that I could say about the dedication and ability of these men and women could improve upon the assessment of them made by President Kennedy last June 14 when he said that they “have brought to government service a sense of morale and a sense of enthusiasm and, really, commitment, which has been absent from too many governmental agencies for too many years.” He went on to say that he believes that the members of the Peace Corps/Washington staff “have set an example for government service which I hope will be infectious”. Vital as these people are, however, not one of them is more important to the Peace Corps than . . .

The Peace Corps Washington Staff Simple addition would reveal that the Peace Corps administrators in Washington during its first years had lived abroad for a total of about four centuries. They had visited or stayed at length in every nation on earth. The cumulative lifetime travel mileage of the Washington staff added up to thirty or more round trips to the moon. One staff member all by himself use to log 150,000 miles a year as part of a former job. Such statistics are only mentioned because they indicate a familiarity with the broad world, an acquaintance with the far corners of the earth that were necessary in an agency that focused beyond the near horizon. The Peace Corps staff in Washington, D.C. came from every possible background, from all economic levels, and from every part of the country. They included skiers, mountains climbers, big-game hunters, prizefighters, football players, polo . . .

On October 16, 1961, Raymond C. Parrott joined the Ghana Staff as Deputy Representative. From New Hampshire, he graduated from high school in 1947 and enlisted in the Navy for three years. Taking a completive military examination, he made the highest mark of anyone from New Hampshire and was admitted to West Point. There, he was told he had a bad shoulder and would have to have an operation or get out. He got out and went to Trinity College and graduated in 1953 with a degree in economics. He received another scholarship and went to Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy where he received his master’s degree in 1954. He then went to work for Arthur D. Little. He first heard of the Peace Corps through his work on the International Economic Affairs Committee of the National Association of Manufactures. He came to Washington, where Shriver offered him the . . .

During the first week of May, 1961, Richard Thornell landed in Ghana to lay the groundwork for the arrival of the first Volunteers to be sent overseas. He was stricken with TB the end of August and entered the hospital only five days before the Volunteers stepped off the pane in Accra on August 29, 1961. A number of dignitaries, however, including Ghana’s Minister of Education A.J. Dowuong-Hammond, were on hand to greet the 50 PCVs, men and women, and their escort officer, Padraic Kennedy, at the big airport on the outskirts of Accra. In response to expressions of welcome, one of the Volunteers stepped forward and delivered a thank-you for the group in Twi, the principal local language. The Twi was far from perfect, but the fact that Americans would try to speak it at all was met with smiling enthusiasm on the part of the welcoming Ghanaians.   . . .

  American University has graciously accepted a copy of “Letters from Nurses in the Peace Corps”  to be archived in its Digitial Archive as well as a hard copy in its Peace Corps Community Archive.  We are so gratful that this document will be preserved. Letters from Nurses in the Peace Corps is a document containing letters from twelve nurses who served in the Peace Corps from approximately 1962 to 1967.  It was published by the Peace Corps as a recruiting brochure in 1967. Read excerpts from the letters here: Letters From Nurses in the Peace Corps – 1967 In acceping the copy, American University Librarian Nancy Davenport wrote: “This brochure will offer a unique glimpse into the work of Peace Corps volunteers during this period and will be of interest to both our campus community and external researchers.” Click to see the Peace Corps Community Archives at American University

Emory Biro was born and raised in Toledo, Ohio, and went to the University of Detroit, where he edited the college paper, and graduated in 1954 with a degree in political science. He was fired from his job as a college editor because of his last editorial, an attack on McCarthyism called “The Rise of Fascism in the U.S.” Also in his undergraduate career, he had served as vice president of the university’s student council, vice president of the Detroit Interracial Council, and finally, vice president of the Migratory Workers Defense League. In 1954, he moved to Chicago and went to work for the Catholic Interracial Council, of which Sargent Shriver was then president. Appointed to the CIC board, he served on it from 1957 until he came to the Peace Corps in 1962. Biro, who spoke Hungarian before he spoke English, and who first learned Spanish working with braceros . . .

  Among many other journalistic skills, Bea Hogan (Uzbekistan 1992-94)  is a contract writer for Seneca Women, a small company devoted to empowering women, and contributes to its weekly newsletter. Bea served in the first group Peace Corps Volunteers to Uzbekistan and wrote me the other day: “Worlds collide: the company I work for, Seneca Women, produced a show — Global Forum: Women Driving Economic Progress — in Dublin for Bank of America earlier this week. One of the star speakers was Maureen Orth. I put together the newsletter yesterday, and I tucked in a little plug for the Peace Corps at the end.” Bea went onto write, It’s funny — Maureen and I have never met in person, but I’ve crossed paths with her several times. I noticed that we both have essays in that collection of essays by RPCVs  you edited for the Peace Corps years ago, At Home in the World. . . .

After two years at Utah State, Darwin Bell enlisted in the Army as a private. It was 1942 and, like Frank Mankiewicz, he was sent to ASTP and—to continue the parallel—wound up a mortar gunner in the battle for France. Here their paths diverged. Bell was captured by Germans in the Battle of the Bulge and was taken to Stalag 9-B in  Bad Orb. He escaped from the prison camp twice and was recaptured twice. The third time he escaped, the Germans caught him again, but thinking he was dead, left him in a field where he was picked up by nuns and taken to an infirmary. A doctor told him he had appendicitis and that he would be back the next day to operate. But the next day, according to Bell, “U.S. tanks came rolling into town, and the war was over for me.” He spent the next nine . . .

  Thank you, Ken, and thank all of you for being here today in Plainview Minnesota to celebrate and honor the 50+ year history you have with the United States Peace Corps. Before I go any further I want you to know I bring greetings from my father, Skip Humphrey and all the Humphrey family. I also want to recognize and thank my uncle, Judge William Howard for joining me here today. Bill’s mother and Hubert Humphrey’s sister, Frances Humphrey Howard was instrumental in many aspects of my grandfather’s life, but especially foreign affairs, the State Department, the Foreign Service and the Peace Corps, so thank you Bill for being her today. When Ken called me up and asked if I would come down to help commemorate the placing of a historical marker to honor and celebrate the founding of the US Peace Corps and the very real connection Plainview . . .

Ken Fliés of Eagan, MN was one of the first Peace Corps Volunteers, and the youngest when he began his service in Brazil in 1961. Fliés, now 75, grew up on a dairy farm near Plainview, MN, and was just 19 when he answered President John F. Kennedy’s call to find “what you can do for your country.” He chose to represent the U.S. as a PCV in Correntina, in rural Brazil, where he would use his mechanical and agricultural skills to help fix a dam and improve the town’s farming skills. Fliés understood hard work and how to make things work when times were tough, and these were the character strengths he would draw on during his 21-month tour in what proved to be a very unorganized inaugural launch of the Peace Corps. “It was pretty chaotic,” he said. “We were spread out over 15,000 square miles of the São Francisco Valley. . . .

  https://www.peacecorps.gov/news/library/new-law-strengthens-health-and-safety-peace-corps-volunteers/ October 10, 2018 President Donald J. Trump signed into law new legislation that seeks to improve access to medical care for Peace Corps volunteers, strengthen accountability and oversight and enhance procedures to reduce the risk of crime in the countries where volunteers serve. The bill was passed unanimously by the U.S. Senate on September 24 after passing the House on July 10. “We are deeply grateful to all those who have championed this important legislation – from the family of Nick Castle to leaders in the U.S. Congress, including Senator Bob Corker, Senator Johnny Isakson, Congressman Ted Poe and Congressman Joe Kennedy III,” said Peace Corps Director Jody Olsen. “Their leadership has made a positive impact on the Peace Corps by helping institutionalize higher standards for volunteer health, safety and security. This bill will codify best practices to help keep volunteers safe and hold the agency accountable to . . .