Peace Corps Essay Research Paper The Peace

Peace Corps Essay, Research Paper

The Peace Corps is a volunteer service, in which Americans are sent to help undeveloped and extremely poor countries. The volunteers stay in these host countries for two years. They live with the people, in many times poor conditions, and serve and work together with the people of the country. In doing this, the Peace Corps have three major goals: 1) To provide volunteers who give to the social and economic development of interested countries. 2) To promote a better understanding of Americans among the people who the volunteers serve. 3) To strengthen Americans? understanding about the world and its people. Most of all, the organization promotes world peace, and understanding between America and all the other nations and people of the world. It is a United States government agency, and is funded by tax dollars. How did the Peace Corps come to be? It is a very difficult political web of happenings, but can be summed together pretty easily; In the early1960?s the young people of the nation had grown tired of sitting around, they believed America was becoming snobbish and conceited. They wanted change; they wanted to change the world. Then the first sight of that chance came. President Kennedy went to the University of Michigan on October 14, 1960 (though the Peace Corps was originally established on March 1, 1961). In his speech that day, he asked a group of ten thousand students present: “How many of you are willing to spend ten years in Africa or Latin America or Asia working for the US and working for freedom?” This idea, the idea that later became the Peace Corps, gave the chance to quench this thirst for change, and more importantly, action. ?The Peace Corps oath of allegiance for many of us has meant a lifetime pledge of public service, of community concern, and of international awareness. Finding myself now with the opportunity to lead the Peace Corps constitutes a moment of rare fortune.? [Mark L. Schneider

Shriver Hall, Peace Corps Headquarters, Washington, D.C. January 7, 2000]

As a people to people organization, the Peace Corps has depended upon the dedication and commitment of individual Americans for two years, in countries that have requested them. The Peace Corps seeks out people with skill and the dedication to use their skill to help others. It takes a huge amount of commitment because volunteers are placed in the same poor environments as the native citizens. These places usually have no electricity or running water, things that we often taken for granted. “It was an enormous culture shock. One moment I was watching the Sonics game in Chicago and the next, I?m in a little hut in Kenya watching a woman milk a cow.” [Melvin Smith, a Peace Corps veteran in Kenya from 1993, 1995] However, the Peace Core was not created to let Americans shock and dare themselves but instead to export America?s potential and brilliance. It trys to find people like Melvin Smith who gave up the luxuries and comfort of his home for a life in a developing country with a dedication to make a difference in their society.

Senator Hubert Humphrey and Congressman Henry S. Reuss mainly masterminded the plan behind the Peace Corps. However, Kennedy was the person who expressed it. He did so at his speech at the University of Michigan, and many other speeches, including his inaugural address. Especially with his famous line: “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country” (today this line is kind-of a motto for the Peace Corps). Also, in March of 1961, after being elected president, Kennedy did as he promised, and gave the executive order creating the Peace Corps. Less than half a year later volunteers were already being sent to Ghana. By the end of 1961, the Peace Corps grew to serve a dozen countries, and had close to a thousand volunteers. ?We have Peace Corps Volunteers serving in the poorest towns of Bolivia, Benin, and Bangladesh as well as rural villages of South Africa, Slovakia and the Solomon Islands. Everywhere they serve, they have a common purpose and common goals. President John F. Kennedy explained that purpose as contributing to world peace and international understanding. The goals were three-fold. First, to improve the lives of people in developing countries, particularly among the poorest communities. The second goal was to convey an understanding of the people of the United States, our values and our ideals, through the friendships and relationships that develop by living and working side by side with the people of other lands. The third goal was the flip side of the cross-cultural coin?Peace Corps Volunteers would convey here in the United States a personal knowledge of other people, other cultures, and other realities when they return.? [Remarks by the Honorable Mark L. Schneider Director of the Peace Corps, Yale University-April 12, 2000]

Within the next few years, the number of countries with programs more than doubled, and in 1966, the number of volunteers reached the highest in history of over 15,000. In 1981, it celebrated its 20th anniversary, and received congratulations from President Reagan. By this point it had had programs in 88 countries, and build up almost a hundred thousand former students. In 1989 the “world wise schools” plan was put in place. This plan had elementary and junior high classes going with the volunteers to the countries, to help promote worldwide