A Call to Peace - Civic Enterprises

A CALL TO PEACEThis report is not a narration of the key moments in the life of the Peace Corps over its 50 years. Many books andarticles are devoted to this history and we want to focus our attention on the perspectives of Returned Peace CorpsVolunteers (RPCVs). The beginning of the Peace Corps, however, is particularly significant in our view because itwas powered at the grassroots level, and set forth a framework that informs recommendations for the futureof the Peace Corps and international volunteering. We, therefore, take a moment to trace the roots of thePeace Corps here.The BeginningThe Peace Corps was not an original idea. DespiteTheodore Sorenson calling it “the only new proposal”candidate John F. Kennedy introduced in the1960 presidential campaign, it was not new. BothRepresentative Henry Reuss and Senator HubertHumphrey proposed the idea in the late 1950s. A bill,written by Representative Reuss, a Democrat fromWisconsin, was introduced in Congress in 1960. The billcalled for the study of a “Point Four Youth Corps,” pointfour being a reference to the fourth point in PresidentHarry Truman’s 1949 inaugural address, offeringtechnical assistance to developing nations. Congressapproved $10,000 for the study of such a corps.Senator Humphrey, who gave the Peace Corps its name,also introduced a bill in 1960 to establish an agencyand campaigned for the idea during the presidentialprimaries. His bill never came up for a vote. It wascandidate John F. Kennedy, in a rousing and impromptuspeech delivered on October 14, 1960 at 2 a.m. on thesteps of the University of Michigan to an estimatedcrowd of 10,000 students who had waited in a coldnight for him to arrive after his televised debate withRichard Nixon, who inspired a generation of studentsto answer the call to service and gave life to a buddingidea that would become his most enduring legacy.The idea for a Peace Corps took off because of astudent movement that emerged behind it. Twostudents in attendance that night, Alan and JudyGuskin, took Kennedy’s remarks to heart, leadingthem to draft a petition and collect about a thousandstudent pledges to volunteer overseas in responseto Kennedy’s challenge: “How many of you, who aregoing to be doctors, are willing to spend your days inGhana? Technicians or engineers, how many of you arewilling to work in the Foreign Service and spend yourlives traveling around the world?… on your willingnessto contribute part of your life to this country…will depend the answer whether a free society cancompete.” Two weeks later, on November 2, 1960, ina speech at the Cow Palace in San Francisco, stirred bythe student petition, Kennedy officially proposeda peace corps of talented men and women who woulddedicate themselves to the progress and peace ofdeveloping countries.Sergeant Shriver said the Peace Corps “might stillbe just an idea but for the affirmative response ofthose Michigan students.” He called it a case of“spontaneous combustion” and says the PeaceCorps thereafter tried to keep “the momentum andunbureaucratic spontaneity” of that campaign night. 3Candidate Kennedy on the steps of the University of Michigan, October 14, 1960.Photo courtesy of the University of Michigan.2 Meisler, S. (2011). When the World Calls: The Inside Story of the Peace Corps and Its First Fifty Years. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.3 Shriver, S. (1964). The Point of the Lance. Harper & Row.A CALL TO PEACE SEPTEMBER 20119|