Peace Corps
The Peace Corps is an independent federal agency of the United States designed to promote mutual understanding between Americans and the outside world. The Peace Corps was established by executive order in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy and approved by the United States Congress as a permanent agency within the U.S. State Department later that year. The program was an outgrowth of the Cold War designed to oppose the Chinese and Soviet challenge to Western influence in the widely open Third World arena of superpower competition. More than 180,000 Americans have served in the Peace Corps since its inception. Gaddi Vasquez is the current director.
Purpose and Function
The program officially has three goals:
- To help the people of interested countries and areas in meeting their needs for trained workers,
- To help promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served, and
- To help promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans.
The Peace Corps works by first announcing its availability to foreign governments. These governments then determine areas in which the organization can be involved. The organization matches the requested assignments to its pool of applicants and sends those volunteers with the appropriate skills to the countries who first made the requests.
Background and History
Since the end of the Second World War, various members of the United States Congress had proposed bills to establish volunteer organizations in the Third World. In 1952 Senator Brien McMahon of Connecticut proposed an "army" of young Americans to act as "missionaries of democracy." Privately funded non-religious organizations had been sending volunteers overseas since the 1950s.
Senator John F. Kennedy first announced his own idea for such an organization during the 1960 presidential campaign at a late-night speech at the University of Michigan. During a later speech in San Francisco, he dubbed this proposed organization the "Peace Corps." Critics of the program (including Kennedy's opponent, Richard M. Nixon) claimed the program would be nothing but a haven for draft dodgers. Others doubted whether college-aged volunteers had the necessary skills. The idea was popular among college students, however, and Kennedy continued to pursue it, asking respected academics such as Max Millikan and Chester Bowles to help him outline the organization and its goals. During his inaugural address, Kennedy again promised to create the program.
Established and Authorized
In March 1961, Kennedy signed an executive order officially starting the Peace Corps. Concerned with the growing tide of revolutionary sentiment in the Third World, Kennedy saw the Peace Corps as a means of countering the notions of the "Ugly American" and "Yankee imperialism," especially in the emerging nations of postcolonial Africa and Asia.
A few days later, Kennedy appointed Sargent Shriver to be the program's first director. Shriver was tasked with fleshing out the organization, which he did with the help of Warren W. Wiggins and others. Together with his "think tank," Shriver outlined the three major goals of the Peace Corps and decided the number of volunteers they needed to recruit. The program began recruiting volunteers the following July.
Until about 1967, applicants to the Peace Corps had to pass a placement test that tested "general aptitude" (knowledge of various skills needed for various Peace Corps assignments) and language aptitude. Following an address from Kennedy, the first group of volunteers left for Ghana and Tanzania in August. The program was formally authorized by Congress in September, and within two years over 7,300 Peace Corps volunteers were serving in 44 countries. This number would jump to 15,000 by June 1966, the largest number in the organization's history.
Early Stumble
Though largely well-received by participant countries, the organization experienced some controversy in its first year of operation. In October 1961, a volunteer in Nigeria wrote a postcard to her boyfriend in the U.S. in which she described the "squalor and absolutely primitive living conditions" of Nigeria. This postcard, however, never made it out of the country. A university student in Ibadan found it and made copies to distribute around campus. Nigerian students accused the volunteers of being spies of the U.S. government and agents of imperialism. The story was picked up by the international press, and some people began to question the future of the program as a whole. After several days of isolation imposed on volunteers by angry Nigerian students, the American personnel went on a hunger strike. Organizations such as the Nigerian-American Society and the Organization of Nigerians Trained in America also came to the Peace Corps' defense. Finally, the Nigerian students agreed to open a dialogue with the Americans.
Independent Status
In 1971, President Nixon brought the Peace Corps under an umbrella agency, ACTION. The Peace Corps would remain under ACTION until President Jimmy Carter declared it fully autonomous in a 1979 executive order. This independent status would be further secured when Congress passed legislation in 1981 to make the organization an independent federal agency.
Programs Diversified
At this time, the Peace Corps began branching out past its traditional concerns of education- and agriculture-related projects. In 1982, President Ronald Reagan's appointee, Director Loret Miller Ruppe, initiated several new business-related programs. For the first time, a large number of conservative and Republican volunteers joined the contingent of overseas volunteers, and the organization continued to reflect the evolving political and social conditions in the United States.
Funding cuts during the early 1980s dropped the number of volunteers to 5,380, its lowest level since the organization's early years. Funding began to increase in 1985, and Congress passed an initiative to raise the number of volunteers to 10,000 by 1992.
After the September 11 terrorist attacks alerted the nation to growing anti-U.S. sentiment in the Middle East, President George W. Bush pledged to double the size of the organization within five years as a part of the War on Terrorism. For the 2004 fiscal year, Congress passed a budget increase at $325 million, which was $30 million above that of 2003 but $30 million below the president's request.
President Bush requested in 2002 that the Peace Corps double the number of volunteers it sends abroad by 2007. According to Joseph Kennedy, nephew of the former president, "The American reputation has taken a hit in the last couple of years. The need for the Peace Corps couldn't be more urgent. The Peace Corps shows what is best in America, the generosity of spirit." The agency is also trying to get more diverse volunteers of different ages. This is important so that the Peace Corps can look, according to Director Vasquez, "more like America."
Executive Orders
- 1961 - Establishment and administration of the Peace Corps in the Department of State (Kennedy)
- 1962 - Continuance and administration of the Peace Corps in the Department of State (Kennedy)
- 1971 - Assigning additional functions to the Director of ACTION (Nixon)
- 1979 - The Peace Corps made fully autonomous (Carter)
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