PEACE CORPS IN THE 21 ST CENTURY: A RHETORICAL ANALYSIS

41Designed as a means to reach the general public and recruit potential volunteers,the Peace Corps PSA campaign encouraged citizens to make a decision to change thecurrent direction of their lives. The PSAs attracted volunteers from all walks of life. Thecampaign consisted of a series of print, radio, and television ads making the followingpoints: 1) Peace Corps service is an adventure, 2) Peace Corps service will be selfgratifying,3) service will fulfill a calling and eliminate regret, 4) service will bebeneficial in the future, and 5) service is for everyone regardless of age, race, oreducational level. Hints of the new frontier and the Peace Corps of the past exist, butwith far less frequency than these five appeals. In the PSAs we find more new frontierrhetoric than on the web site. In general, the Peace Corps’ new recruitment rhetoric isbased on a commitment to change the face of the organization in accordance with thechanging face of Americans. The organization recognizes that what were formerlyeffective recruitment strategies are no longer as successful as a means for attracting newvolunteers as they once were.Volunteers are no longer entering unknown lands in far away places. In fact, theadvent of the internet and instantaneous communication throughout the globe haschanged. The new frontier no longer exists as it once had. The internet providesinformation and live updates on countries and what their volunteers are doing. Theaverage volunteers have regular internet and telephone access, keeping them connected totheir lives in America. The new frontier hero, the Peace Corps volunteer, was headedinto the third world without a true sense of what it might be like. The volunteer would bedisconnected from others and from their familiar lives. Also, service was rhetoricallyconstructed as physically demanding and isolating. Kennedy, in his speech to Congress