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[edit] Jack Vaughn
Jack Hood Vaughn (August 18, 1920 - )[1] was the second Director of the United States Peace Corps succeeding Sargent Shriver. Vaughn was appointed Peace Corps Director in 1966 by President Lyndon Johnson and was the first Republican to head the agency.
[edit] Early Life and Education
Vaughn was born in Columbus, Montana in 1920, the son of Elijah H. Vaughn and Blair (Cox) Vaughn.[2] Vaughn grew up in Montana where his father managed a cattle ranch.[3] Vaughn moved with his family to Albion, Michigan in 1931 where his father managed a chain of clothing stores in Michigan and Montana.[4][3] Vaughn attended Albion Public Schools and graduated from Albion High School in 1939.[2] Vaughn earned a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Michigan in 1943.[4]
[edit] Boxing career
Vaughn became interesting in boxing as a youth and would spar with local boxers on the third floor of his father's building in Albion, Michigan where a makeshift gymnasium was located.[2] By age 14 Vaughn was boxing publicly in "smokers."[3] "Everyone was smoking Roi-Tan cigars," says Vaughn.[3] "We were fighting in a purple haze. It was $5 if you won, $3 if you didn't. The events featured three or four semi-pro boxing matches and one fairly professional striptease. If there was no striptease, they brought in the wrestlers."[3] Vaughn was a Golden Gloves boxer[5] and won three Golden Gloves championships.[4] Vaughn would sometimes box in Detroit[3] where he worked occasionally as a sparring partner for notable prizefighters, including Sugar Ray Robinson, Jake LaMotta, Willie Pep and Sandy Saddler.[6]
Vaughn began fighting professionally in 1942[3] under the name of "Johnny Hood."[7] "I was bumming around Mexico one summer when I ran out of money," Vaughn said.[7] "I decided I would take my boxing and turn pro, but I didn't know enough Spanish at the time to tell whether the agent said I would get 60 pesos for four rounds or four pesos for 60 rounds. You can guess which figure was correct."[7] Vaughn fought 26 featherweight bouts as a professional.[7] Vaughn tells the story that the first time he fought professionally in Mexico, the fans cheered enthusiastically but he couldn't make out what they were saying and he thought they were cheering him on.[5] It was only later that he learned that what the fans were shouting was "Kill the Gringo!"[5] "My first fight was down in Juarez," says Vaughn.[3] I was in the first of a four-round preliminary match. My second (assistant) was a high school kid from El Paso. The crowd began to shout, 'Mata al Gringo!' I asked my second what they were saying. He said, 'I think they're saying, "Welcome to Juarez." A week later I found out what that meant."[3] Mata al Gringo! later became the title for Vaughn's unpublished memoirs.[5] Vaughn was the head boxing coach at University of Michigan from 1942 to 1943[4] and also taught Spanish, French and Latin American affairs while he was at the University of Michigan.[4]
[edit] Marine Officer in World War II
During World War Two, Vaughn served as an officer in the United States Marine Corps as a rifle company commander and a combat intelligence officer from 1942 to 1946.[5] Vaughn saw combat in Eniwetok, Guam, and Okinawa.[5] Vaughn left the Marines with the rank of captain.[5] Vaughn earned the Purple Heart during his service.[3] "I was wounded three times, all in the rear end," says Vaughn.[3]
After returning from World War II, Vaughn earned a Master of Arts in 1947 in Romance Languages[3] from the University of Michigan[4] and a Masters in economics.[3] Vaughn taught Spanish, French and Latin American affairs while he was at the University of Michigan[4] and was also the head boxing coach.[4] "I wanted to be a professor of French literature," says Vaughn.[3] Vaughn continued fighting to earn extra money while he worked at the University of Michigan.[3] "I ended up losing the sight in my right eye in 1948," says Vaughn.[3] "So in 1949, I went to the State Department."[3]
[edit] State Department career
[edit] USIA and USAID
Vaughn joined the US Information Agency (USIA) in 1949 as director of the bi-national center in La Paz, Bolivia and later moved to Costa Rica with the USIA.[7] Vaughn joined the State Department in 1951[5] and spent 1951 to 1956 in Panama with the State Department.[8] While working for the State Department in the 1950's Vaughn met several times with Che Guevara.[3] "I met him seven or eight times. Each time I liked him less," says Vaughn.[3] "My final meeting, I gave him a University of Michigan T-shirt. He wore it backwards."[3] From 1959 to 1961 Vaughn was the USAID Mission director for Senegal, Mali, and Mauritania.[9] Vaughn's background growing up on a ranch in Montana helped him in his work with USAID where he worked in "mainly agricultural reform. I had a lot of training," says Vaughn.[3]
[edit] Peace Corps Staff
Vaughn's connection with the Peace Corps began in 1961 when Peace Corps founding director Sargent Shriver came to Senegal where Vaughn was serving with USAID.[3] "There were 4,000 volunteers signing up a day for the Peace Corps, and countries weren't asking for them. So Shriver came over to meet the Senegalese," says Vaughn.[3] "I was the only one who spoke French. I went up to meet Shriver and his lawyer in their hotel room. They did not have on a stitch of clothing. We all sat down and had a conversation. They said they had never seen heat like that. It was 120 degrees and no air conditioning."[3] Vaughn's boxing prowess and prior experience as a prize fighter paid off when Sargent Shriver decided to recruit Vaughn.[6] "I was recruited by Sargent Shriver because I had been in the ring with Sugar Ray Robinson," Vaughn said.[6] "He loves jocks."[6] Coates Redmond described Vaughn as "barely medium height, slight of build, with ginger-colored hair and a 1940s moustache to match, quietly spoken and careful of gesture" in her history of the early years of the Peace Corps, Come As You Are.[10] Before his appointment to the Peace Corps, Vaughn met with President Kennedy who didn't like Vaughn's mustache and told him he would have to shave it off if he wanted to work in the Peace Corps.[5] Vaughn refused to shave the mustache but got the appointment anyway.[5]
Vaughn joined the Peace Corps staff because "the Peace Corps idea had a great appeal to me. And the people I knew who were putting this idea into effect appealed to me even more."[7] Shriver admired Vaughn's courage and felt anyone who would brave the ring with Sugar Ray Robinson would have the grit to fight for the Peace Corps in Latin America so when the Peace Corps decided to send volunteers to teach in Venezuela in 1963 despite the presence of Castro communists, Shriver made Vaughn his point man.[6] "Shriver said, 'Show them your teeth, not your tail,'" Vaughn said.[6] "Those teachers did great there. I'm sure it was his finest moment in the Peace Corps."[6]
Vaughn served as the Latin-American director of the Peace Corps from October, 1961 to April, 1964.[11][7] When Vaughn came to the Peace Corps there were only 78 volunteers serving in Latin America.[7] By the time he left after two-and-a half years in the position, there were 2,500 volunteers working in rural and urban development in Latin America.[7] Vaughn left the Peace Corps in 1964 to return to the State Department.[11]
[edit] Ambassador to Panama
US Ambassador to Panama Joseph S. Farland resigned in August, 1963 leaving the United States without an ambassador for several months.[12] The New York Times printed a story on January 10, 1964 criticizing the administration for leaving the post vacant and saying the vacancy had contributed to anti-American riots in Panama.[12] "The absence of an American Ambassador was an invitation to the Communists to raise the devil," said Senator George D. Aiken, Republican of Vermont.[12] "They have been waiting for this chance."[12]
President Johnson named Vaughn US Ambassador to Panama in 1964 after the two nations broke off diplomatic relations[4] because of nationalistic rioting in Panama.[11] The Senate approved Vaughn's appointment on April 7, 1964.[13] Vaughn arrived in Panama on April 17, 1964 to take up the post of Ambassador, now vacant for six months.[14] His arrival was welcomed by Panamanians who knew and liked Vaughn from his previous work in Panama with the US AID mission.[14] Vaughn had previously arranged for about 1,000 young Panamanians to go to the United States for post-graduate study.[14] In the airport lounge, ten young Panamanians unfurled a 25-foot long sign greeting Vaughn.[14] "Jack, the scholarship holders remember your work and greet you," the sign read.[14]
In the book The Negotiations Regarding the Panama Canal by Omar Jaen Suarez, Vaughn is given great credit for defusing the tensions between the two countries and starting the United States and Panama on the road to successfully negotiating the Panama Canal Treaty.[8] “I lived here in a successful and comfortable way, dedicated to agricultural activities and as I was not a member of the U.S. military, I understood that now was the moment to change the relation, the cut of the pie, that Panama was receiving for the Canal” Vaughn said speaking of his time in Panama in the early 1950s..[8] After Vaughn became ambassador to Panama, it was difficult for Vaughn convince the US government to offer concessions because the Viet Nam war was going on at the time.[8] "It was a time of total war when the Pentagon was thinking of nothing else, like revising agreements or other annoyances like these, because they needed the military bases for training the troops," Vaughn said.[8]
Vaughn's efforts were fruitful.[15] On December 19, 1964 President Johnson made an address to the Panamanian people proposing the negotiation of an entirely new treaty on the Panama Canal.[15] "In these new proposals we will take every possible step to deal fairly and to deal helpfully with the citizens of both Panama and of the United States who have served so faithfully through the years in operating and maintaining the Panama Canal," said Johnson.[15] Although Vaughn takes no credit for President Carter's efforts beginning in 1977 to complete negotiations for a new Panama Canal treaty, Vaughn's early initiatives to reach an understanding with Panama paved the way for Carter's negotiations later.[8]
[edit] Assistant Secretary of State
On February 12, 1965 President Johnson named Vaughn[11] Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs and the United States coordinator of the Alliance for Progress.[4] The bureau was the single largest unit in the State Department with more than 600 employees in Washington and 2,000 more abroad.[7] Vaughn was in charge of relations with the twenty Latin-American republics as well as Jamaica, Trinidad, and British Guinea.[16] Vaughn's responsibilities included managing the Alliance for Progress and the office dealing with the Organization of American States.[16] Vaughn also carried the title of United States Coordinator for the Alliance for Progress.[16]
Vaughn promoted a Peace Corps-style approach to diplomacy.[7] "If I had my way, every young foreign service officer who now spends his early career stamping visas would be forced to put in two years with the Peace Corps or two years in private business as a salesman or an assistant assembly line foreman," said Vaughn.[7] "Anything that would teach them how to deal with people and get along with them."[7]
On September 4, 1965, the New York Times reported that Vaughn had just completed a two-week trip to Latin America and returned with an enthusiastic report for President Johnson on the Alliance for Progress.[17] Vaughn expressed his conviction that a "new and bright chapter" was starting in the partnership between Latin America and the United States.[17] "Not long ago the people of Latin America were still doubtful about the goals fo the alliance," Vaughn said.[17] Today it is a reality that is marching better than I thought and it is a reality because our partnership is solid, enduring and expanding."[17] During his trip, Vaughn talked with hundreds of workers and peasants and with the leaders of Mexico, El Salvador, Panama, Ecuador, Chile, Bolivia, and Peru.[17] Vaughn was warmly received during his trip and was praised by Chilean President Eduardo Frei Montalva who expressed gratitude for US economic assistance that he said was "decisive" for the solution of Chile's economic problems.[17]
[edit] Peace Corps Director
When Johnson picked Sargent Shriver to head up his "War on Poverty" in 1966, Vaughn was named Peace Corps director.[6] "It was so good, so positive," Vaughn said of his appointment.[6] "As a former bureaucrat, to join the Peace Corps was pure joy. All the stuff I knew we shouldn't do, we didn't do. All the things we should do, we did efficiently, effectively and cheaply."[6]
Vaughn was appointed Peace Corps Director on February 16, 1966.[5] Vaughn was in a bar at 12:30 on M Street in Georgetown when the bar telephone rang and the bartender asked, "Is there a Mr. Jack Vaughn here?"[5] Vaughn answered yes the bartender says, "it's someone who says he's the president of the United States."[5] "Let me finish this drink," replied Vaughn taking his time before picking up the phone and saying hello.[5] On the line was President Lyndon Baines Johnson himself. "Vaughn," said LBJ.[5] "How would you like to be the director of the Peace Corps?"[5] "Mr. President," Vaughn replied calmly, "I thought you'd never ask."[5]
[edit] Senate Approval and Swearing In
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved Vaughn's appointment as Peace Corps Director 12 to 1 with Wayne Morse, Democrat of Oregon opposing Vaughn.[18] In the same committee meeting Morse was also the sole vote against Lincoln Gordon to succeed Vaughn as Assistant Secretary for Inter-American Affairs.[18] During the hearings Senator Laushe of Ohio asked Vaughn about reports that some Peace Corps volunteers did not dress properly.[19] "Don't you have many of what you call the 'mustache people' around?" asked the Senator.[19] The Senate hearing room burst into laughter as did Laushe when he realized what he had said to the mustached Vaughn.[19] "That's the meanest thing you ever said to me, Senator," replied Vaughn.[19]
"The Peace Corps is the point of the lance," said Vaughn on February 28, 1966 in his first interview after his Senate confirmation as Director.[20] "In Latin America, it is the human cutting edge of the Alliance for Progress, the focus of ideas and people in action. In other countries also we are finally beginning to deal with the real problems of the day - peace and poverty and war and changing attitudes and hatred."[20]
Vaughn was sworn in as Peace Corps Director at a White House ceremony[21] by President Lyndon Johnson on March 1, 1966, the fifth anniversary of the founding of the Peace Corps.[22] "Jack Vaughn I first met out in a little fishing village in Africa, but he, like Sargent Shriver, I observed on that first meeting, is a disciple of peace," said President Johnson.[22] "His life has been spent in the service of the cause of peace. This is the third job that I have asked Jack Vaughn to take since I met him in that fishing village in 1961. Each of these jobs he has served with great distinction."[22][21]
Vaughn said that his first task as Director would be to visit Peace Corps programs around the world, meet staff members and volunteers and explain his plans.[20] Vaughn meant that literally and started at the top of the 12-story Peace Corps Headquarters building to personally meet and shake hands with every employee.[19] "I want to help build on this image and bask in your collected glory," said Vaughn.[19] "I'm pleased to be with you."[19] During his first month as director, Vaughn gave an estimated 60 speeches, visited 15 college campuses to recruit volunteers and traveled overseas with visits to Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, India, and Thailand.[23]
[edit] Environmental Focus
One of Vaughn's most lasting contributions to the Peace Corps was to redirect the Peace Corps' focus to environmental issues.[6] Vaughn first became interested in 1963 when he met a volunteer in Chile named Duty Green.[6] "Duty Green was a forester, and he went to Chile with a commitment to plant a million trees," Vaughn said.[6] "When his tour was almost over, he sent me a message saying, 'I'm very sorry. I've only been able to plant 900,000 trees in my time here. Can you extend my stay?' Here was a guy who would never say, 'What am I doing here?' He could look at a forest and know it was there because of his efforts. This is what we should have been doing - have them plant a tree, clean up a stream," Vaughn said.[6] "That was the explosion of awareness that changed the Peace Corps, because I wised up and still had time to do something about it. Those generalists, with no prior technical training, could be trained to do a beautiful job in just 10 weeks to turn wasteland into forest, to run nurseries, to do earth dam construction and supervision. It's a wonderful and satisfying job for a volunteer," Vaughn said.[6]
[edit] Problems in Nigeria
The New York Times reported on October 6, 1966 that Vaughn had left for Africa to investigate an unusually large number of complaints by Peace Corps Volunteers regarding their living allowances and working conditions in Nigeria.[24] Vaughn's itinerary included stops in Senegal, Nigeria, and Liberia to inspect Peace Corps operations in the three countries.[24] Complaints in Nigeria included closing the Peace Corps hostels intended for use by Peace Corps Volunteers on vacations or free weekends, a $19 cut in volunteers' $147 monthly living allowance to reflect the monthly pay of local Nigerians for work comparable to that done by volunteers, and a reduction in the number of motorbikes allocated for volunteers for official travel "in the Nigerian bush country."[24] Vaughn traveled to Nigeria and spent three weeks traveling the country to meet in small groups with about 600 of the 699 volunteers in country to re-establish "a missing dialogue" between Volunteers and Washington Staff.[25]
Vaughn cut to the crux of the matter when he met with Peace Corps Staff in Nigeria.[26] "I never get letters of complaint from Volunteers who are busy doing something," Vaughn said, "who are teaching thirty hours a week."[26] Vaughn thought that too many volunteers were more concerned with proposed reductions in the living allowances, vehicle restrictions, and the closing of hostels than with the work they had come to do.[26] "Stay where the Nigerians stay," said Vaughn.[26] "The Peace Corps is not in the hotel business. Forget the motorbikes the Peace Corps gave you in a period of misguided generosity. Travel with the Africans or better yet stay in your town and get to know the people rather than escaping on weekends to visit other volunteers."[26] Vaughn traveled with two reporters from the "Peace Corps Volunteer" magazine, a monthly magazine that went out to Peace Corps Volunteers worldwide.[25] The December, 1966 issue of "Peace Corps Volunteer" contained a report on Vaughn's trip and the issues in Nigeria.[25]
[edit] Program Improvements
The weaknesses in the Nigeria program confirmed Vaughn's worst suspicions about the need to improve the quality of Peace Corps programs.[26] "We've got to do better on recruitment, in administration, orchestration, and approach," said Vaughn.[19] Vaughn's biggest contribution to the Peace Corps was the effort he put into making program development in the field and program review and evaluation at Washington Headquarters into a professional process.[26] One of Vaughn's first actions, taken in March, 1966, was to create the Peace Corps' Office of Planning and Program Review.[23] Vaughn spent two years reappraising overseas operations, administration, training, and selection and created a more efficient programming mechanism.[26] Vaughn made sure that the emphasis was shifted in the Peace Corps from how many volunteers were working to what the volunteers were doing and how well were they doing it.[26]
[edit] Peace Corps and the Viet Nam War
When Vaughn appeared at the University of Wisconsin on March 11, 1966 about 150 protesters interrupted his speech three times.[27] The protesters included members of the local chapters of the "Committee to End the War in Vietnam" and the Students for a Democratic Society.[27] Many volunteers also disagreed with United States policy during the Viet Nam war, and some members of Congress thought that volunteers should be required to support United States policy while they were serving overseas.[28] Vaughn defended the rights of Peace Corps volunteers.[28] "[Secretary of State] Dean Rusk has said repeatedly that Peace Corps volunteers are not a part of United States foreign policy," said Vaughn in testimony before Congress.[28] Representative Otto Passman said that Vaughn should either resign or be dismissed because he would not require volunteers to support foreign policy, especially Viet Nam.[28]
However, dissent had its limits for Peace Corps volunteers.[29] In 1967 Bruce Murray, a Peace Corps Volunteer serving in Chile, helped draw up a petition that called for a cessation of the bombing of North Viet Name and immediate negotiations for peace. Murray said his petition was for publication in the New York Times.[29] The petition was never published in the Times.[29] Murray allegedly translated the petition to Spanish and gave it to "El Sur," a Chilean newspaper.[29] Ralph Dungan, the US ambassador to Chile at the time, said the petition was a "clear violation" of standard State Department procedures and that volunteers had been cautioned about limiting their modes of expressing their opinion.[29] Dungan told volunteers to voice their views to their Congressmen or to the President.[29] Murray was dismissed from the Peace Corps for violating State Department regulations governing political conduct overseas.[29] On July 19, 1967 Vaughn clarified Peace Corps policy on writing letters to newspapers on political issues and said that volunteers could now identify themselves as Peace Corps volunteers in letters to newspapers.[30] The old policy permitted identification by name only.[30] The new policy would not have made any difference in the discharge of Murray because his activities involved the use of a newspaper in a host country.[30]
One of the fallouts of the anti-government stance of many young people was a decline in applications to join the Peace Corps.[31] A Harris poll conducted with college students in 1968 found that "One-quarter of the seniors agree that 'a lot of people who might have joined the Peace Corps a few years ago are staying away because of their opposition to United States policy in Vietnam."[31] "An increasing number of people are saying, 'since we do not or have not been able to solve our own problems, perhaps we had better focus more attention and resources on our own problems at home before we continue our effort to save the world,'" said Vaughn.[31]
[edit] Peace Corps and the Draft
Former US Marine Officer Vaughn[5] took an active role in seeking deferments for Peace Corps Volunteers subject to the draft.[32] "We have a serious situation," said Vaughn.[32] "The problem of induction notices to overseas volunteers in becoming a major concern for us. Pulling a volunteer off a productive job at midtour is unfair to the nation, to the host country, the Peace Corps, and the individual."[32] Even though service in the Peace Corps did not relieve a male volunteer of his military obligation, some Selective Service Boards had granted deferments for the two years of voluntary service as being in the national interest.[32] After 25 volunteers were called home for induction and Vaughn said he would take an active role in seeking deferments before the Presidential Appeal Board - the court of last resort for draft reclassification.[32]
[edit] Non-Partisan Support for the Peace Corps
As a lifelong Republican appointed to head the Peace Corps by a Democratic President, Vaughn exemplified the non-partisan basis of the Peace Corps and the support the agency had from both political parties.[33] Vaughn recounted how he had met with Republican Senator Barry Goldwater, the conservative candidate for President in 1964, at a senior staff meeting.[33] "After serious questioning on what Kennedy's new agency was all about, Arizona's Goldwater swore that the Peace Corps embodied virtually every one of the most noble aspects and values of the Republican Party," wrote Vaughn.[33]
[edit] Ambassador to Colombia
When Richard Nixon became president in 1969, Vaughn found himself out of a job.[6] One report says that Vaughn was asked by Nixon's Secretary of State William P. Rogers to stay on as Peace Corps director to emphasize the nonpolitical nature of the Peace Corps.[34] Instead, Vaughn was informed in March, 1969, that he would be replaced after all[34] and reports that Vaughn had been asked to stay on as Peace Corps Director in the Nixon administration were reported in the media to be untrue.[35] "I was the first bureaucrat Nixon fired when he took office," Vaughn said.[6] "But when he found out I was a Republican, he asked me if I'd be his ambassador to Colombia."[6]
On May 2, 1969, President Nixon announced the appointment of Vaughn as Ambassador to Colombia.[36] No major diplomatic initiatives took place with Colombia during Vaughn's ambassadorship there. Vaughn saw his role more as a "good will ambassador" and made many efforts to help the United States be seen in a positive light. For example, while Ambassador to Colombia, Vaughn, a former boxer, refereed boxing matches for the flyweight, lightweight, and middleweight finals in the Colombian National amateur championships held in Cartagena.[37] Vaughn held a license to referee professional fights in the United States and so as a courtesy, Colombia granted Vaughn a reciprocal license to referee in Colombia.[37] Vaughn noted that one difference from the United States is that the referee in Colombia is not allowed to touch the fighters when calling on them to break a clinch.[37] Vaughn stopped the lightweight match with only 41 seconds to go in the final round to have a doctor examine a cut over one figher's eye and the fight was stopped.[37] Vaughn is said to be the only US diplomat to referee a fight while serving as Ambassador and declared that he was much impressed with the caliber of the fighters in Colombia.[37]
Vaughn announced his resignation as Ambassador to Colombia on June 11, 1970 to return to private life.[38] It was reported in the New York Times that Vaughn was leaving because he was in disagreement with Nixon's Latin American policies.[38] However, a State Department spokesman said the Vaughn was resigning "for personal reasons" adding that "There is no disagreement over policy."[38]
[edit] Post Government Activities
[edit] Head of National Urban Coalition, Planned Parenthood
On October 8, 1970 Vaughn was named President of the National Urban Coalition replacing John W. Gardner, former Secretary of Health Education and Welfare.[39] Vaughn's responsibilities as chief executive officer of the organization were to run day-to-day operations of the coalition's chapters in 48 cites in the United States.[39] From 1972 to 1975 Vaughn was Dean of International Studies at Florida International University in Miami, Florida.[9] From 1972 to 1975[9] Vaughn was named to head the overseas development staff for Children's Television Workshop, a unit of National Educational Television, producers of Sesame Street and The Electric Company.[40] Vaughn was President of Planned Parenthood[4] from 1974 to 1975.[41] From 1977 to 1979 Vaughn was Vice-President of Development and Resource Corporation for Iran.[9] From 1979 to 1980 Vaughn was Assistant Administrator for Latin America Designate for USAID.[9] From 1980 to 1982 Vaughn was President of Pierce Energy Corporation.[9] From 1983 to 1986 Vaughn was Vice-President, Private Sector Projects for Development Associates.[9] From 1986 to 1988 Vaughn was Vice-President, Government Relations and Finance for Conservation International.[9] Vaughn was chairman of Ecotrust,[4] a conservation organization committed to strengthening communities and the environment.[42]
[edit] Confirmation Hearings for Gaddi Vasquez
Vaughn opposed the George W. Bush's nomination of Gaddi Vasquez to become Peace Corps Director in 2001.[5] "As they say on the racing tout sheet for a horse that is not in the running: 'Nothing to recommend,'" Vaughn said.[6] "He has little experience . . . and little to indicate that he understands how to run the Peace Corps or any international organization. It's clearly a political payoff, and it would be a shame to see him approved."[6] As a Republican it pained Vaughn to have to oppose a nominee by a Republican President, but Vaughn came to Washington on his own and appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to speak out against the appointment of Vasquez.[5] However Vasquez cleared the United States Senate Foreign Relations committee by a vote of 14-4,[43] and was accepted in the full Senate on a voice vote.[44]
[edit] Continued Support for the Peace Corps
On February 28, 2008 Vaughn published an op-ed in the Tuscon Citizen supporting expansion of the Peace Corps and defending the relevance of the Peace Corps in today's world.[33] "What the Peace Corps set out as its goals in 1961 coincides almost exactly with what most of our presidential candidates in 2008 have promised to seek at home, e.g. bringing real change, better health care, improved environmental protection, peace by means other than bludgeoning, burnishing the U.S. image abroad (an area in which the Peace Corps has no rival), promoting nonpartisan solutions, better education at all levels, with a major focus on helping the poor and disadvantaged," wrote Vaughn.[33] "Is there a chance our next president, having talked the Peace Corps talk so faithfully and so long, will be able to stay real and walk the Peace Corps walk (while increasing the Peace Corps budget)?"[33]
[edit] Personal life
Vaughn's first marriage to the former Joanne Cordes Smith ended in divorce.[45] Vaughn married Margaret Anne Weld on October 21, 1970.[45] Weld had served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Chad and was on Vaughn's personal staff when he was Director of the Peace Corps.[45] Weld, known by her nickname "Leftie,"[3] was later on the public affairs staff at Peace Corps Headquarters in Washington.[45]
In 1988 Vaughn made headlines while visiting New York City when Vaughn, then 67, defended himself during an attempted mugging[3] as Vaughn left his hotel in midtown Manhattan after midnight to get a newspaper.[46] Former professional prizefighter Vaughn hit the would-be mugger in the jaw leaving the mugger face down on the sidewalk.[3] "This fellow came up behind me, put his arm around my waist, pinned my right arm to my side, and tried to remove my wallet," says Vaughn.[46] "I hit him in the throat with my elbow. Then I kneed him in the groin and hit him in the jaw about five times. He was jackknifed on his face on the sidewalk as I walked away."[46] "On several occasions I've had to straighten people out," Vaughn added.[3]
In 1992 Vaughn and his wife moved to Tucson.[3] Vaughn, at 87, still keeps in shape by shadow boxing and running in place.[3] "I have an unbelievable left hook," says Vaughn.[46] "Sometimes I shadow box, pretending I'm hitting certain politicians."[46]
Vaughn's son, also named Jack Vaughn, is a record producer who has run his own label, Slimstyle Records, and now heads Comedy Central's record label.[47][48] In a 2006 story in the Wall Street Journal, Vaughn said that since 2002, Comedy Central Records have gradually increased to about 10 releases a year.[48] "We make money on 80% to 90% of our releases," Vaughn says.[48] Industry insiders call this a good percentage since most new releases in the music industry lose money.[48] The younger Vaughn went to high school in Guatemala while his father was a diplomat working there.[47] "It was a terrific cultural experience, but for a teen-ager with Embassy restrictions, it was boring and dangerous," said the younger Vaughn.[47]
[edit] Joseph Blatchford
Joseph Blatchford (born June 7, 1934) was the third Director of the United States Peace Corps succeeding Jack Vaughn. Blatchford was appointed Peace Corps Director in 1969 by President Richard Nixon.
[edit] Early Life and Education
Blatchford was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on June 7, 1934.[34] His family moved to California when Blatchford was ten years old[34] and Blatchford grew up in Beverly Hills, California where his father dealt with motion picture finances.[49] Blatchford attended Christian Science Sunday School growing up but in a profile published in the New York Times in 1970[49] said that he is no longer a practicing Christian Scientist.[49] Blatchford attended the University of California at Berkeley[49] where in 1956 [50] during his senior year he was captain of the University of California's tennis team.[51] Blatchford went on tennis tours of Europe[49] and competed in the British tennis championships at Wimbledon in 1956.[34] Blatchford was defeated by Neale Fraser of Australia in the second round 6-1, 6-1, 6-4.[52] Blatchford returned to Berkeley and completed his law degree.[49][53]
[edit] Founding of Accion
[edit] Good Will Tour
In 1958 Vice-President Richard Nixon was charged by a mob in Venezuela.[34] This started Blatchford, then a student at University of California, thinking about what could be done to restore the traditional friendship in the hemisphere.[34] Blatchford's first venture in South America would be a good-will tour of the continent with four of his friends who were jazz musicians using tennis exhibitions and jam sessions as an entree into student communities.[34] Blatchford organized the tour with Ronald K. Dunton, a trombone player, who had organized jazz groups that toured Europe and Mexico while an undergraduate at Darmouth.[50] Blatchford and Dunton decided to take a year off from school to organize the Latin American tour.[50] The plan was to give afternoon tennis exhibitions and jazz concerts in the evening without admission charges that would be followed by discussions with young people.[50] Blatchford and Dunton did not want any assistance from the government so they canvassed private companies, foundations, and individuals to raise $13,000 of the $15,000 they need for the tour.[50]
On March 19, 1959 Blatchford left on a 120 day goodwill tour covering thirteen countries with their first stop in the Dominican Republic.[50] The other members of their tour were Michael Payson, Toshio Nagatani, Donn Dhickering, Robert Shechteman, and Juan Elac.[50] "Playing tennis exhibitions, trying to use sports and music as a door opener, handles as they say, to get to know students, politicians, labor leaders. We came back rather critical of American foreign policy and American ways of doing things in these countries," said Blatchford.[53] "I saw the conditions and I saw the feeling of frustration that young people in Latin America had about not being able to forge their own futures."[53]
Returning from the goodwill tour, Blatchford made the acquaintance of Eugene Burdick, author of the best seller The Ugly American that stressed the need for "personal" aid overseas.[49][54] Burdick became an advisor to Accion.[54] Burdick suggested that Blatchford obtain financial assistance from private enterprise to make a survey of the needs of various countries in Latin America.[54] Arthur K. Watson, president of IBM, financed another trip to South American where Blatchford talked to politicians, labor leaders, and students.[54] The US State Department arranged appointments with officials and the Institute of International Education, a private agency that administers government student exchange programs also provided assistance to Blatchford.[54]
[edit] Accion Sends Volunteers to South America
In the fall of 1959 Blatchford started rounding up money and volunteers to serve in South America[34] and started Accion, six months before Sargent Shriver started the Peace Corps.[49] The New York Times reported on March 26, 1961 that Accion was sending volunteers to Colombia in a program designed to provide technical aid to urban centers and rural communities.[54] Blatchford said that over 400 students had applied for the program and that screening would soon begin at the University of California, Stanford University, and the University of California at Los Angeles.[54] After selection has been completed, the group would leave for another course of three months at the University of the Andres, then break into two man teams to serve their communities.[54] Blatchford said the cost of the program would be $125,000 for the first year with half the money already raised and that under the program each volunteer would receive baic expenses plus a stipend of about $1,100 for fifteen months of duty.[54]
Blatchford placed his first volunteers in Venezuela in September, 1961.[34] By 1964 Venezuela became the testing ground for Accion's first major project which was to help an urban slum in Venezuela become a self-reliant community.[55] Blatchford first recruited thirty college graduates willing to volunteer overseas.[55] The volunteers lived with families in the barrios, improving their Spanish while familiarizing themselves with problems in the community.[55] The volunteers helped organize projects such as laying water mains, building schools and community centers and starting small businesses. One of their most successful projects was helping a bakery organized in Isaias Medina by twenty women who wanted better and chepaer bread.[55] By 1965 the bakery had become self-supporting.[55] Accion also helped a construction company in the model city of San Tome de Guayana build ten houses as an experiment to increase housing and provide employment for 27 workers.[55]
The New York Times reported on January 28, 1966 that Blatchford had been invited by business leaders in Rio de Janeiro to help organize activities in Brazil based on the Venezuelan model.[55] The businessmen had raised $100,000 and formed a "Centro para Accion" (center for action) in the barrios to be known as CARE after its Portuguese initials.[55] Over the next four years, Accion placed more than 1,000 volunteers and staff members on projects in four countries.[34] Blatchford ran Accion for nine years and at one time had 300 volunteers in Latin American and an annual budget of $2 million.[49]
[edit] Charges of CIA Sponsorship Retracted
On May 23, 1969 Washington columnists Drew Pearson and Jack Anderson charged that the CIA had partially financed Accion and that founding Peace Corps Director Sargent Shriver had issued orders in 1962 to Latin American country directors not to associate with anyone from Accion because it was operating under the guidance of the CIA.[56] Fifty Peace Corps staff members in Washington signed a statement asking Blatchford to "do whatever is necessary to dispel even the spectre of CIA involvement in the Peace Corps."[56] Blatchford replied that he and Accion had never had any association whatever with the CIA or any other intelligence agency and that former Peace Corps directors Sargent Shriver and Jack Vaughn had both stated that the allegation of the 1962 order for Peace Corps to avoid contact with Accion was groundless.[56] On May 31, 1969 Pearson and Anderson admitted in their column that their charge had been in error and retracted their charge.[56] "The inference was based principally on the fact that Accion, founded by new head of the Peace Corps, Joe Blatchford had received $50,000 from the Donner Foundation, a reported CIA conduit," said the article.[56] "We now find that there are two Donner Foundations, and that the William H. Donner Foundation, which contributed to Accion has never been a CIA conduit. We regret the error and further state that we are convinced the Peace Corps has no connection, direct or indirect, with the CIA."[56]
[edit] Peace Corps Director
In 1968 Blatchford won the Republican nomination for the House of Representatives[57] from the Los Angeles harbor district[34] but lost the general election in a heavily Democratic district[57] to Glenn M. Anderson in a very close race losing with 48.1% of the vote to Anderson's 50.7%.[58]
In May 1969 Blatchford was appointed Peace Corps director by President Richard Nixon.[49] At Blatchford's confirmation hearings he was questioned closely on his partisan political ambitions but there was no challenge to his qualifications for the post of Peace Corps Director.[34] Blatchford was sworn in on May 5, 1969.[59] "Joe Blatchford, throughout his private career, has had a tremendous interest in this kind of activity, particularly in Latin America," said President Nixon at the swearing in ceremony.[59] "I am very privleged to have him as a member of the administration in this vitally important function. He has the responsibility, despite his very young years, to come up with new ideas. He has the opportunity to develop new programs and those programs will receive the very highest priority within the administration."[59]
[edit] Serving in the Nixon Administration
Blatchford was an unusual Nixon appointee.[53] He "lives in Georgetown among Democrats instead of at the Watergate with Administration Republicans" said a profile in the Peace Corps Volunteer magazine in June 1970.[53] "He rides a motorcycle, does impersonations of famous people and has a great nostalgia for San Francisco and its “beat” period. The three most prominent hangings on his office walls are: a photograph of his swearing-in by President Richard Nixon; a copy of the earth-rising. over-moon picture taken by the Crew of Apollo 8 in 1968; and a psychedelic poster of Bob Dylan. A unique office, but one gets the impression he would rather be out in the field."[53] News photographs showed Blatchford riding a black 180cc Yamaha motorcycle into the lobby of Peace Corps headquarters just a few blocks from the White House.[57]
Blatchford had the confidence and support of President Nixon as Peace Corps Director.[53] "I was appointed by the President, and serve at the pleasure of the President. But he has given me a free hand to develop the ideas for making the Peace Corps a vital and exciting means of carrying out its original mission in the 1970’s," said Blatchford in 1970.[53] "He has given me plenty of backing on this: He has met with all our county directors, He met the other day with members of our national advisory group, some of our staff. He’s spent a good deal of time with us emphasizing the importance of the Peace Corps, and he’s particularly emphasized the importance of having returned Volunteers go to work on the problems of American society. In much of the criticism we’ve received from members of Congress, he’s backed me up."[53]
Blatchford used his athletic ability to help forge a working relationship with senior officials in the administration.[60] On May 19, 1970 Blatchford was invited to play tennis with Vice President Spiro Agnew.[60] Agnew was known for "beaning" his tennis partner but Blatchford came prepared with a motorcycle helmet on the sidelines.[60] As Blatchford crouched close to the net, an Agnew serve, with all its sting, landed "smack on the back of his head."[60] Blatchford and Agnew lost 6-1, 6-1 to Senator Javits of New York and Representative Weicker of Connecticut.[60] According to a May 1989 Washington Post story by Marci McDonald, the incident prompted Nixon to joke that he should send Agnew into then-war-torn Cambodia armed with a tennis racket.[61]
[edit] "Untying some Apron Strings"
Blatchford immediately set about making changes in Volunteer support services, eliminating some, changing others, and consolidating other services.[62] In a memo to Country Directors Blatchford said "The decisions reached affect a number of services to the Volunteers which in actuality are restrictions on the Volunteers’ freedom to manage their own affairs. The decisions are in keeping with the philosophy that we will eliminate all activities which do not directly promote the Volunteers’ ability to satisfy their responsibility to the best counbies."[62] Among the services eliminated were Peace Corps booklockers, the pre-service clothing allowance, and payment for unaccompanied air freight and footlockers.[62] Blatchford also eliminated the requirement that volunteers could not return to the United States during their Peace Corps service for vacations.[62] "In principle, the Peace Corps still believes that it is to the Volunteer's advantage, and the advantage of the relationship he must maintain with his host country workers, to vacation within his assigned country or region. At the same time, the restriction on travel to countries such as the US and Europe is undesirable because it discourages Volunteers from assuming full responsibility for important personal decisions relating to Peace Corps service," said the new policy.[62]
[edit] New Directions
Blatchford believed that it was time for the Peace Corps to chart a new course called "New Directions."[63] Blatchford said the purpose of "new directions" was to revitalize the Peace Corps by reversing declining trends in both the number of applicants applying to serve as volunteers and the number of requests from host countries for volunteers.[64] "College students know our selection process is slow and impersonal and that we sometimes fail to find solid jobs for our volunteers," Blatchford said.[64]
Blatchford's first priority was to broaden the pool of people joining the Peace Corps.[53] "What’s news is that farmers are going to join the Peace Corps, That’s different from the public image of the Peace Corps Volunteer as a young liberal arts graduate right out of college," said Blatchford.[53] "When I went overseas, I constantly heard the cry from governments, people of all stripes—villagers, village leaders, school teachers and people who worked with the Peace Corps or were in charge of programming them—that, we need a wide diversity of skills."[53] The New York Times reported on September 23, 1969 at Blatchford's first press conference that the Peace Corps intended to recruit 500 union craftsmen, farmers, and vocational educational specialists.[64]
Blatchford also wanted to increase minority recruitment.[53] "Applications from black colleges are up 70 percent this year. That sounds good. But in absolute numbers, what is it 1 percent to 1.7 percent. That’s still not good enough, so we've just set up a special office of minority recruitment," said Blatchford.[53] "We have two intern programs now with Shaw and Atlanta, and last fall we did send the first all black group of Volunteers to Kenya, This is the way of the future, Only we’ve got to put more effort into it. If we do, I think we can recruit 1000 black Volunteers every year. I think we ought to."[53] At Blatchford's first press conference he said that he would move more vigoursly to recruit minorities. College students "suspect the Peace Corps is almost lily-white and they are right," Blatchford said.[64]
Blatchford also opened the Peace Corps to married couples with children.[64] In his first press conference held on September 23, 1969 Blatchford outlined his plans to place 200 families overseas in a pilot project to attract married technicians.[64] Families had not been permitted to serve overseas previously.[64] "For some people the urge to serve may come again at age 30 or 40 and they have children. We will adjust the living allowance so they can serve," said Blatchford, speaking about blue-collar workers with grown children who previously could not serve in the Peace Corps.[65]
C. Payne Lucas and Kevin Lowther in their seminal book about the Peace Corps from 1960 to 1977, Keeping Kennedy's Promise, noted that although Blatchford said the Peace Corps could only survive by providing more technically skilled volunteers, the great majority of programs continued to be designed around generalists.[26] "Those overseas directors who took New Directions seriously should have spared themselves the trouble. Although Blatchford succeeded in attracting marginally more technically trained people, they were never enough to greatly alter the Peace Corps profile or to fulfill the expectations that New Directions aroused abroad."[26]
[edit] Vietnam Protests
Protests against the Vietnam war continued to affect the Peace Corps under Blatchford's administration just as it had under his predecessor, Jack Vaughn.[66] On March 12, 1970 the New York Times disclosed that twelve volunteers had been separated from the Peace Corps because of their public opposition to the Vietnam war.[67] Blatchford reiterated that the Peace Corps would continue its policy of permitting dissent but not if it was done publicly in the host country.[67] "The volunteer can express his dissent," said Blatchford.[67] "But he cannot exploit his position."[67]
Meanwhile Peace Corps volunteers who had completed their service joined protesters of the Vietnam war in the United States.[68] In May, 1970 more than 100,000 protesters converged on Washington to protest the Kent State shootings and the Nixon administrations incursion into Cambodia.[68] One afternoon a group of returned volunteers came into Peace Corps headquarters and went to the fourth floor which was the Southeast Asia section of the Peace Corps.[68] The returned volunteers, members of an organization called the "Committee of Returned Volunteers," forced staff to leave the floor, hung a Viet Cong flag from a window almost within sight of the White House, and took possession of the entire floor for 36 hours.[68][26]
The New York Times reported on June 3, 1970 that Blatchford received petitions protesting the war signed by hundreds of volunteers serving in South Korea, Panama, Dominican Republic, and Guatemala.[66] In a two hour meeting in Blatchford's office, dissenting volunteers told Blatchford that "the war is apparently being expanded, that this is hurting the Peace Corps and that he should do something to relect the point of view of the many volunteers who oppose the war."[66] A Peace Corps spokesman said that Blatchford told the volunteers that he approved of their form of protest and promised to refer their petitions to the White House.[66] The petition stated that "the President's verbal endorsement of the accomplishments and ideals fot he Peace Corps is a hypocritical use of this organization. The government is using us as apologists for policies that run counter to the reasons for our service and the original reasons for the agency's existence."[66]
Blatchford just like Director Vaughn before him believed that volunteers had every right to protest through the media at home as long as they did not publicly identify themselves with political issues in their host countries.[26] But Blatchford came under intense pressure from above after volunteers submitted an anti-war petition to Vice President Spiro Agnew while Agnew was on an official visit to Afghanistan.[26] Blatchford sent a private memorandum to Republican members in Congress explaining that he had "inherited a very difficult situation resulting from Volunteers just out of college with strong, libberal views.[26] We have also had to weed out many members of a hostile staff hired during the past eight years of Democratic administration and unwilling to accept a new administration."[26] Blatchford promised that within a year all volunteers "will have been selected by this administration" and will have "better screening."[26]
[edit] Action Director
On January 14, 1971 Nixon made a speech at the University of Nebraska proposing to establish a new "volunteer service corps" agency in Washington combining the operations of the Peace Corps, VISTA, and other existing volunteer agencies.[69] Nixon also said he would ask Blatchford, "one of the ablest young men I have ever known," to head the new organization.[69] Nixon said in his speech that the merger would give young Americans "an expanded opportunity for the service they want to give - and it will give them what they not now have offered them - a chance to transfer between service abroad and service at home."[69] In a special memo to staff members and volunteers, Blatchford praised Nixon's announcement as "another step in the effort to bring the American citizen into the solution of public problems through long-term service."[69]
[edit] Merger of Peace Corps into Action
On March 24, 1971 Nixon officially requested Congress to act on the plan for merging nine volunteer programs: the Peace Corps; VISTA and a small special program from the Office of Economic Opportunity; Foster Grandparents and the Retired Senior Volunteer Program from the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare; and the Service Corps of Retired Executives and the Active Corps of Executives from the Small Business Administration.[70] In addition, the Teacher Corps in the Office of Education was also proposed for inclusion but was not included in the first phase of the reorganization plan.[70] The new agency would centralize management of 15,000 full time and 10,000 part time volunteers into a new agency with a budget of $176 million, equal to the budgets of the nine present agencies plus $20 million for innovation. Formally the new agency was called "Action" but officials insisted it would be called "Action Corps."[70] The reorganization would take place automatically unless either house of Congress objected within 60 legislative days.[70] In a special message to Congress, Nixon called for still larger future efforts.[70] "America must enlist the ideals, the energy, the experience and the skills of its people on a larger scale than it ever has in the past."[70]
Blatchford endorsed the new agency unwilling to question any plan of President Nixon who Blatchford thought supported the Peace Corps.[71] Blatchford believed that combining the Peace Corps with domestic programs like VISTA might shield it from critics of foreign aid by adding VISTA supporters to its constituency.[71] The Peace Corps was isolated and vulnerable and Blatchford thought the Peace Corps "would survive better under Action."[71] On June 3, 1971 the Senate gave final congressional approval to Action by a vote of 54 to 29.[72] Opposition to the merger was led by liberal Democrats who thought the reorganization would diminish volunteer interest in the various programs and permit the Administration to dismantle VISTA which had been under the Office of Economic Opportunity.[72] On November 20, 1971 the Senate confirmed Blatchford as Director of Action.[73]
[edit] Budget Crisis at the Peace Corps
Historian Elizabeth Cobbs Hoffman in her book All You Need is Love: The Peace Corps and the Spirit of the 1960s says that Nixon had decided to dismantle the Peace Corps.[71] In July 1970, Nixon instructed Bob Haldeman to get Bryce Harlow on the job of getting the Peace Corps "chopped per the president's instructions" adding that "this has to be done and has to be done now...We can't do it just before the '72 elections and we have to do it after November 1970."[71] Haldeman told subordinates to cut the budget by one-third and noted in his diary that the president wanted the budget cut "down far enough to decimate them."[71] Two months after the November 1970 elections the plan went into action. Blatchford received the proposed federal budget for FY72 and to his surprise, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) had cut the number of Peace Corps volunteers from 9,000 to 5,800 and reduced the Peace Corps' budget from $90 million to $60 million.[71] Blatchford dashed off a memo to John Ehrlichman, special assistant to the President on domestic affairs pleading for preservation of the Peace Corps at its current budget level.[71] "It will be quite evident to most Congressmen and to the public that the president's expansion of service opportunities has begun with a 30 percent cut over last year's request for the largest of the merged agencies," wrote Blatchford. [71]
Congress had its own plan to cut the Peace Corps' budget.[74] On December 17, 1971 Congress passed a continuing resolution slashing Blatchford's $82 million operating budget by $10 million.[74] "Our whole budget doesn't amount to half the price of a submarine," said Blatchford.[74] "Those characters over at the Defense Department are rolling in dough. They round off their cost estimates to the nearest Peace Corps budget." Blatchford ordered a temporary halt to signing up new volunteers although applications continued to be accepted.[74] Then Blatchford ordered that plans be drawn up for the termination of half of the 8,000 volunteers in the field.[74] The plans would be implemented if Congress failed to restore the Peace Corps' funds.[74] "There is a point of no return when we must use the money we have to bring these people back to the United States," said one Peace Corps official.[75]
It was time for Blatchford to play hardball.[71] Blatchford announced that 2,313 volunteers stationed in thirty-three countries were being brought home.[71] Blatchford cleared the diplomatic cables with the State Department and arranged to send them one minute past midnight on March 7, 1972 for volunteers to return home by April 1, 1972.[71] The removal of Peace Corps volunteers would be an international embarrassment to the United States of enormous proportions.[71] Congressman Otto Passman, a long time opponent of the Peace Corps, called Blatchford on March 7, the day the cables were to go out, and offered the Peace Corps extra funds if Blatchford would take the heat off.[71] Passman also told Blatchford that the Peace Corps didn't have as many friends in the White House as he thought.[71] According to Historian Elizabeth Cobbs Hoffman, Blatchford never suspected that his problems came from the White House and remained convinced that President Nixon was a friend of the Peace Corps.[71]
P. David Searles in his book The Peace Corps Experience: Challenge and Change, 1969-1976 says that Blatchford's own assessment of Nixon's support 25 years later is that President Nixon did lose some of his early enthusiasm for the Peace Corps as a result of what Nixon thought of as widespread hostility to the President from Peace Corps Volunteers.[57] However Baltchford also contends that Nixon originally gave more support to the Peace Corps than any President other than Kennedy.[57] Blatchford also credits Republicans in the Senate like Barry Goldwater and Charles Percy for supporting the Peace Corps when Democrat William Fulbright tried to cut the Peace Corps' budget in 1969.[57] Blatchford did sense hostility to the Peace Corps from some of the president's advisors, especially Ehrlichman and Patrick Buchanan, but says it did not hamper his work.[57]
[edit] Five Year Rule
On November 15, 1971 the New York Times reported that Blatchford had made the decision to rigoursly enforce a 1965 rule that staff and volunteer service in the Peace Corps be limited to five years.[76] About 10 per cent of the total Peace Corps administrative staff including 27 of the 55 country directors were affected by the decision.[76] A total of 93 of the Peace Corps' senior staff will be dismissed as a result of the rule.[76] In a memorandum announcing his decision, Blatchford called on staff members with over five years service to "relinquish their position so that others may serve."[76] "Only in the rarest instances involving senior policymakers who cannot be readily replaced, will there be any deviation from a strict adherence to the spirit of the five-year rule."[76] The move came under criticism from Sargent Shriver, the founding Director of the Peace Corps and originator of the "Five Year Rule." "The rule should have been enforced across the board from the start," said Shriver.[76] "To do it abruptly now is going to create major problems overseas. It's one hell of a job to find 27 competent overseas directors in the course of six months, and these people are the core of the program.[76]
Historian Elizabeth Cobbs Hoffman in her book All You Need is Love: The Peace Corps and the Spirit of the 1960s says that if the Peace Corps hoped to survive beyond the sixties, it would need to give Republicans a greater stake in its survival.[71] "Republicans had to be allowed the spoils of the election - and the Peace Corps, like it or not, was one of them," says Cobbs Hoffman.[71] "Shriver and Vaughn, after all, had filled the Corps with Democrats. Still, Blatchford showed a restraint that earned him a few points with old Peace corps staff by agreeing to take on those Republicans with demonstrateble qualifications for the job. Blatchford enforced the five-year rule to a greater extent than Vaughn, but when key staff resigned or had their terms expire he also promoted from within."[71]
P. David Searles in his book The Peace Corps Experience: Challenge and Change, 1969-1976 says that the five year rule required that all staff members leave the Peace Corps not later than the fifth anniversary on the date they were hired and even Shriver observed this rule when he stepped down as the first Peace Corps director on March 1, 1966, five years after becoming director to the day.[57] Searles said that Blatchford saw the five-year rule as one way to help assemble his own team, just as Jack Vaughn had done when he became director in 1966.[57] "The loudest and most outraged of political partisanship came in 1971 when Blatchford used an important Peace Corps policy, generally ignored by his predessecor, to terminate nearly one hundred staff members, including twenty-seven country directors. The rule was instituted to ensure that the agency would never suffer the fate of other government bureaucracies: premature calcification resulting from an aged and spent permanent staff."[57] Author P. David Searles says that Shriver's concerns about finding "competent overseas directors" proved groundless.[57]
[edit] Resignation
Blatchford's remaining tenure as Action Director was uneventful except for one unusual opportunity to present the Peace Corps through mass media to the American people that occurred on February 16, 1972 when Blatchford appeared on the Mike Douglas Show to talk about the Peace Corps while the show was being guest hosted with John Lennon and Yoko Ono.[77] Another guest on the same show with Blatchford was one of Lennon's idols, Chuck Berry, who dueted with Lennon on Berry's big hit "Memphis Tennessee" during the two hour program.[78]
After Nixon's overwhelming victory in the Presidential election in November 1972, Nixon called for the resignation of all his appointees.[57] Blatchford recalls telling a colleague at a meeting where the resignations were demanded, "But I thought we won."[57] Whether Blatchford would have been re-appointed at Director of Action will never be known because Blatchford accompanied his pro forma resignation with a real one.[57] Blatchford was an enigma in the Nixon administration, a Republican who held ideas that seemed liberal.[57] He had resisted pressure to bust heads when the Committee of Returned Volunteers had occupied Peace Corps Headquarters in 1969 and Nixon's Chief of Staff H. R. Haldeman considered Blatchford "soft" in dealing with dissent.[57] Whatever the outcome, Blatchford had taken himself out of the running[57] and on November 21, 1972 Blatchford announced that he was resigning as head of the Action Corps effective December 31, 1972.[79] A source added that Blatchford had been urged by a number of people to enter the Los Angeles mayoral race.[79]
[edit] Post Governmental Career
In 1974 Blatchford helped Republican Houston Flournoy campaign for Governor of California.[80] In 1974 Blatchford also looked into the California Senate race but found that money to promote a young candidate was unavailable.[81] "Nobody tended to think the Republicans could win this year, even before Watergate," said Blatchford.[81] "We've had a Republican administration in the state for eight years, the Nixon Administration in Washington for six. So the tide is going the other way anyway. Watergate is an add-on, another reason to be discouraged."[81]
In 1977 Blatchford founded his private law practice, Summit Communications, in the field of international trade.[82] Blatchford has represented "flower growers in Costa Rica, cement and toy balloon producers in Mexico, leather handbag exporters in Colombia, school ring binder makers in Singapore, and petrochemicals firms in Argentina."[82] Blatchford is also the co-founder of Caribbean/Latin American Action, a business advocacy group.[82]
In 1978 Blatchford represented 13 defectors from Reverend Jim Jones' cult who were with Congressman Leo Ryan when he was killed at the airstrip near Jonestown in Guyana.[83]
In 1989 Blatchford was the principal lawyer for his firm representing Alfredo Cristiani, the President of El Salvador.[84] Before Blatchford agreed to represent Cristiani, Blatchford assured himself that the President was not associated with any death squad activity that had been imputed to Cristiani's political party, Arena.[84] Blatchford lobbied against a Senate effort to reduce some of the $400 million in annual aid to El Salvador because of the slaying of six priests in El Salvador.[84] "I'm confident I was representing a good group of people," said Blatchford.[84]
[edit] Personal life
In 1967 Blatchford married the former Winifred A. Marich[49] who works in real estate.[85] The Blatchfords have three children: Andrea, Nicholas, and Antonia Blatchford.[86] Blatchford is a serious opera fan.[53]
[edit] Kevin O'Donnell
- For the science fiction writer, see Kevin O'Donnell, Jr
- For the enterpreneur, see Kevin M. O'Donnell
Kevin O'Donnell was the fourth Director of Peace Corps serving from July 1, 1971 to September 30, 1972.
[edit] Early life
O’Donnell grew up in Cleveland and was educated at St. Rose’s Grammar School and West High School.[87] O'Donnell spent two semesters at Kenyon college before joining the US Navy Supply Corps during World War II.[88] He returned after the war and graduated from Kenyon in 1947.[88] O'Donnell earned an MBA at Harvard University then worked for SIFCO, Atlas Alloys, and Booz, Allen & Hamilton.[88] O'Donnell was campaign manager for Republican Willard Brown's run for Cleveland mayor.[89]
[edit] Peace Corps Country Director for Korea
In January, 1966, O'Donnell saw a newspaper story about a local man serving as a Peace Corps administrator in Guatemala.[88] "This was the first time I learned that people could actually get paid to be in the Peace Corps," O'Donnell says.[88] "That it wasn't just volunteers. So I wrote this cold letter about my experience in business. I was so naïve."[88] O'Donnell had lost his first wife following the birth of their sixth child and battled alcoholism and was looking for a chance to do something different.[88] "I was at a point in my life when I wished to be more mission- than profit-oriented," O'Donnell says.[88]
O'Donnell accepted an assignment from the Peace Corps to be Country Director for South Korea and to start the program.[88] O'Donnell's assignment was to establish educational programs in English, math, science, and physical education.[88] "You went in and you sank or swam," says O'Donnell.[88] O'Donnell found that managing Peace Corps Volunteers was different than working in private industry.[88] "By and large, people who applied to the Peace Corps had energy and ability, and my biggest job was to point them in the right direction and then get the hell out of the way," O'Donnell says.[88]
By 1969 the US was at the height of the Viet Nam war and there were 300 volunteers in South Korea "and they were pissed at our government for the war, and they really wanted to make a statement, so they decided it would be best to march on the U.S. embassy in South Korea.[89] I sat down with them and said, 'Listen, what you should do is put together a delegation, and go to the various pockets of volunteers to have them sign petitions, then select a few of them to go to Congress and tell them what they're thinking over here.' I told them that I'd pick up the tab. I'd rather have them doing that than demonstrating on the streets of Seoul. That would have been a mess."[89] O’Donnell’s leadership of the Peace Corps in Korea was recognized by President Park Chong Hee, who awarded O’Donnell the Order of Civil Merit as O'Donnell completed four years as Country Director.[87]
[edit] Peace Corps Director
After four years as Country Director for South Korea, O'Donnell was offered a job in Peace Corps Headquarters in Washington DC as director of administration and finance. He was made acting deputy director, and then, in July 1971, Director of the Peace Corps.[89]
On January 4, 1972 Joseph H. Blatchford, director of Action, the agency that oversaw the Peace Corps, ordered a halt in signing up volunteers and instructed O'Donnell to prepare plans to terminate about 4,000 volunteers on duty in 55 countries.[28] Blatchford wanted the plans so that the volunteers can be returned to the United States by the end of March.[28] Congress had refused to appropriate the $82 million requested by President Nixon for the Peace Corps.[28] Instead, it cut funds to a level that one agency source described as "just one step above putting us out of business altogether."[28] Conservative Louisiana Democrat Otto Passman wanted to kill the Peace Corps. "It was a pivotal time. Had Congressman Passman’s efforts succeeded, the Peace Corps would have had to recall thousands of volunteers, breaking contracts and commitments with communities and countries around the world," said O'Donnell.[87] During the hearings before Congress, O'Donnell showed how the Peace Corps' budget amounted to about one-quarter the price for a single jet fighter but Congress continued strip the Peace Corps' funding.[88] In the end, the money to allow Peace Corps to continue its overseas programs came from an unlikely source - Richard Nixon.[87] "Had the Nixon White House not intervened, transferring funds from other overseas programs to the Peace Corps, the Peace Corps could not have continued without serious repercussions. The effects would have been devastating. Thankfully, our case prevailed," O’Donnell says.[87]
O'Donnell believed strongly in a non-career Peace Corps.[88] Most staff positions in the Peace Corps follow a five year rule but O'Donnell, as a presidential appointee, agreed to a one-year extension and left six years to the day after he signed up.[88]
O'Donnell continues his interest and service in the Peace Corps.[89] O'Donnell's daughter Megan served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Nepal.[89] His granddaughter Allison served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Honduras.[89] O'Donnell serves as a member of the Advisory Counsel to the National Peace Corps Association.[90]
[edit] Businessman
In 1972, O'Donnell returned to Cleveland as CEO of SIFCO, a metal working firm, where he'd worked before the Peace Corps.[89] His Peace Corps experience overseas was good for business and helped SIFCO land contracts in South Korea, China and, "because I'm Irish," in Ireland.[89] O'Donnell retired from SIFCO in 1990 and continued to serve on several boards and run a consultancy firm.[89]
[edit] Honors
On April 15, 2008, the Korea Society will honor Peace Corps volunteers who have served in Korea with the 2008 James A. Van Fleet Award given to prominent Korean and American individuals or organizations for outstanding contributions to the U.S-Korea relationship.[91] Kevin O'Donnell, as the first country director of Peace Corps Korea will accept the award on behalf of the volunteers.[91]
[edit] Personal life
O'Donnell's first wife died in childbirth.[89] O'Donnell remarried in August 1965 to Ellen and their combined families have eight children and fifteen grandchildren.[89] Before the O'Donnell's joined the Peace Corps administrative staff in Korea, they adopted each other's children.[92] "I think there are a lot of positive factors that happened in our merger," said daughter Maura.[92] "The moment we got on that plane [for Korea], nobody knew we were two different families."[92] On January 21, 2008, the Cleveland Plain Dealer announced the passing of Ellen O'Donnell.[92] "She helped to make you feel good about yourself and that no problem could not be solved by simply doing what you do and being yourself," added Maura.[92]
O'Donnell is the father of science fiction writer Kevin O'Donnell, Jr.[89]
[edit] Carolyn Payton
Carolyn Robertson Payton (May 13, 1925 - April 11, 2001) was appointed Director of the United States Peace Corps in 1977 by President Jimmy Carter. She was the first female and the first African American to be Peace Corps Director. Payton was a pioneer in black women’s leadership within the American Psychological Association and psychology.
[edit] Early life and education
She was born Carolyn Robertson in Norfolk, Virginia in 1925.[93] Her father, Leroy Solomon Robertson, was a chef and her mother, Bertha Flanagan Robertson, a seamstress and homemaker.[93] Payton came from a close knit family that emphasized the value of education.[93] Her grandfather, although born into slavery, saw to it that all of his children attended college.[93] Payton enrolled at Bennett College in Greensboro, North Carolina, in 1941 majoring in home economics and graduated in 1945.[94] Payton said that Bennett, a small historically Black women’s college, shaped her aspirations, attitudes, and expectations and gave her a sense of her capabilities as a woman.[93] She remained close to Bennett College during her entire life and established a scholarship fund there in the late 1990s.[93]
Payton transferred to the University of Wisconsin-Madison for her M.S. degree in clinical psychology in 1948.[94] Under the "separate-but-equal" doctrine, the state of Virginia covered her expenses at the out-of-state school because she pursued a graduate degree in a discipline available to White students at a White state schools, but unavailable to Blacks at a Black state school.[94] Payton conducted her masters thesis on the then newly developed Wechsler-Bellevue Test of Intelligence and concluded that the test provided an inaccurate measure of the true ability of Blacks.[93] While at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Payton married Raymond Rudolph Payton, a police detective, but the marriage lasted less than four years and the two divorced in 1951.[94] Payton began taking summer courses at Columbia University's teachers college in 1952 and received her Ed.D. in counseling and student administration in 1962.[94]
[edit] Academic career
Payton began her first job as an instructor in psychology at Livingstone College in Salisbury, North Carolina in 1948 and worked there for five years.[94] In 1953 she became Dean of Women and a psychology instructor at Elizabeth City State Teachers College in North Carolina.[94] In 1956, Payton became an associate professor of psychology at Virginia State College in Petersburg, Virginia. Payton was appointed an assistant professor in psychology at Howard University in 1959.[94]
After leaving the Peace Corps in 1978, Payton returned to Howard University where she was appointed Dean of Counseling and Career Development and later Director of University Counseling Services.[94] As Dean she helped develop an internship-training center. Payton retired from Howard in 1995.[94]
[edit] Peace Corps
[edit] Peace Corps staff member
Payton started at the Peace Corps as a field assignment officer in 1964[95] helping prepare trainees to serve in West Africa. Payton traveled extensively for the Peace Corps performing psychological tests, interviews, clinical observations and peer reviews to help determine the conditions that would lead to the most satisfying experience for Peace Corps volunteers.[94] In 1966 she was appointed Deputy Country Director for the Caribbean and in 1967 was appointed as Country Director for the Caribbean region supervising 130 volunteers involved in education projects on eight islands in the eastern Caribbean.[96] At the time she was one of two women who were country directors.[94]
[edit] Peace Corps Director
Payton was appointed Director of the Peace Corps by President Jimmy Carter in 1977.[94] As Peace Corps Director Payton clashed with Sam Brown, Director of ACTION, which had been created in 1971 by President Richard Nixon to administer the Peace Corps, Volunteers in Service to America and other service programs. Brown wanted to "send volunteers for short periods to developing countries and then bring back the skills they had learned to fight poverty in the United States".[94] According to Payton, Brown's policy went against the original goals of the Peace Corps and said that Brown was "trying to turn the corps into an arrogant, elitist political organization intended to meddle in the affairs of foreign governments."[94] According to Senate testimony[97] Payton's differences with Brown ended in an argument during a trip to Morocco, when Brown openly berated Dr. Payton before Action Corps officials and later went to her hotel room and pounded on her door for fifteen minutes, demanding to be let in to continue his harassment.[97]
Payton resigned in 1978 after thirteen months as Director citing, in part, policy differences between ACTION and the Peace Corps saying "as Director, I could not, because of the peculiar administrative structure under which the Peace Corps operates, do anything about this situation. As an ex-director, I am free to sound the alarm."[94] After Payton's resignation, President Carter issued an executive order taking the Peace Corps out from under ACTION and making it a fully autonomous agency.[98]
[edit] Continued connection with Peace Corps
Payton retained her connection to the Peace Corps. In 1981, she spoke about the contribution that volunteers had made around the world, "I think the whole idea of Peace Corps was brought home to me most recently last summer, when there was a terribly damaging hurricane in the Caribbean. Some of the Volunteers who had served with me there were collecting food, clothes and money to send back to the Islanders. Those Volunteers had left the Islands in 1967, but they still had a concern and care about those Islanders. That's what I think is at the heart of the Peace Corps, and that's why the Peace Corps is relevant today."[99] Payton was awarded the Peace Corps Leader for Peace Award in 1988.[94] In 2000, Payton attended the swearing in ceremony for Peace Corps Director Mark L. Schneider.[100]
[edit] Professional activities and awards
Payton was very active in the American Psychological Association (APA) and served on many committees and task forces including the Committee on Scientific and Professional Ethics and Conduct, the Task Force on Sex Bias and Sex Role Stereotyping in Psychotherapeutic Practice, the Committee on Women in Psychology, the Committee on Lesbian and Gay Concerns, and the Policy and Planning Board.[94] Payton was made a fellow of APA in 1987.[93] She also won the Distinguished Professional Contributions to Public Service Award from APA in 1982. In 1985, the APA Committee on Women in Psychology Leadership Citation Award honored her for her role as "an outstanding teacher, role model, and mentor for women and ethnic minorities. She has provided leadership on ethical and consumer issues in psychology and in eliminating sex bias in psychotherapeutic practice…her commitment to equality and justice for all oppressed peoples has made a precious difference in all our lives."[93] In 1997, Payton received the APA Award for Outstanding Lifetime Contribution to Psychology for her "dedication to using psychology to promote better cross-cultural understanding and to end social injustice by influencing political process…[Her] success in overcoming gender and racial barriers to achieve positions of leadership and prestige make [her] a role model to women and ethnic minorities everywhere."[93]
[edit] Loret Ruppe Miller
Loret Miller Ruppe (1936–1996) was a Director of the Peace Corps and US Ambassador to Norway. She was the wife of U. S. Congressman Philip Ruppe of Michigan.
[edit] Early life
Ruppe was born January 3, 1936 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.[101] Her great-grandfather, Frederick Miller, founded the Miller Brewing Company. Her father, Frederick C. Miller, was the company chairman. Her father was killed in a plane crash in 1954.[102] Ruppe attended Marymount College in New York state, and Marquette University in Milwaukee.[102]
Ruppe married Philip Ruppe[102] and settled in Houghton, Michigan where she began her long career as a volunteer organizer and civic leader.[103] Ruppe served as chairperson of the Houghton United Fund campaign, president of the St. Joesph's Hospital Guild, and as an active member of the Houghton County Republican Committee.[103] Ruppe also traveled extensively through Africa, spending time in Kenya, Morocco, Egypt, and the Spanish Sahara where she saw the potential for partnerships with third world countries to meet human needs.[103] Ruppe attended the Conference on Africa in Ditchley Park, England in 1978 which furthered her interest in solving problems in the third world.[103]
In 1966, Ruppe's husband was the Republican candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives from Michigan's 11th congressional district who defeated incumbent Democrat Raymond F. Clevenger to be elected to the 90th Congress and was subsequently re-elected to the next five Congresses, serving from January 3, 1967 to January 3, 1979.[102] He was not a candidate for reelection in 1978 to the 96th Congress.[102] Ruppe was George H. W. Bush's campaign manager in the 1980 Michigan Presidential primary and was a leader of the Reagan-Bush campaign in Michigan that fall.[102]
[edit] Peace Corps Director
On February 15, 1981 President Ronald Reagan announced the selection of Ruppe as director of the Peace Corps.[104] The White House press office said that Mrs. Ruppe "has spent most of her life in volunteer efforts," including International Neighbors Club IV, and "has traveled extensively and shared ideals with past Peace Corps volunteers in many countries."[104] Ruppe said after her nomination "I have had a great interest in the Peace Corps and I'm very thrilled and excited about the nomination."[103] Ruppe also stated her belief in the continuing relevance of the Peace Corps.[103] "At a time when we're seeking a strong peace, I think this program can be a very important part of that," Ruppe said.[103]
[edit] Independence of the Peace Corps
In 1971 the Peace Corps had lost its independent status when the Nixon Administration made it part of Action, an umbrella agency that included the Foster Grandparent Program, Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA), and the National Center for Service Learning.[102] After the resignation of Peace Corps Director Carolyn R. Payton in 1978, President Jimmy Carter issued an executive order restoring some of its autonomy, but supporters of the agency continued to feel that under Action the Peace Corps suffered from a lack of visibility and identity.[105] Matters came to a head in March, 1981 when Reagan appointed Thomas W. Pauken to be director of Action.[106] Mr. Pauken served as a military intelligence officer in the Vietnam war.[106] The Peace Corps has a prohibition against having former intelligence agents serve in the agency.[106] Senator Alan Cranston of California led Democrats in drafting legislation to make the Peace Corps completely independent again, saying the Peace Corps could not operate with the necessary credibility and independence from the Government if it were organizationally under the direction of Mr. Pauken.[106]
Ruppe publicly took the position that there was no need for the agency to be more independent than it already was under Action.[102] However on March 18, 1981, Ruppe sent a letter to Senator Alan Cranston (D-CA), which challenged Pauken's nomination.[107] An ACTION official told The Heritage Foundation, "She fought vociferously against the Administration position that the Peace Corps should be a part of Action."[107]
On June 20, 1981 the Peace Corps celebrated its twentieth anniversary and thousands of returned volunteers came to Howard University Washington, DC to celebrate.[102] At the opening of the conference, the audience of returned volunteers applauded Ruppe when she told them that she was committed to a strict policy of keeping the Peace Corps out of United States intelligence work in foreign countries.[102] Ruppe added that on May 15, 1981 she and Secretary of State Alexander Haig had sent a joint communique to all United States embassies reaffirming that Peace Corps volunteers would not engage in spy or intelligence activities.[102] Cranston's legislation to sever ties between Action and the Peace Corps subsequently passed even though opposed by the Reagan administration claiming the duplication of administrative overhead would cost the taxpayers an additional $3 million to $7 million per year.[107]
[edit] Budget cuts
On November 1, 1981 the New York Times reported that Peace Corps' budget of $105 million budget would be cut to $83.6 million and that the agency had appealed to the Administration for reconsideration.[108] Ruppe met with Secretary of State Alexander Haig about the budgetary problem and said she had found him "very supportive."[108] "He said what we were doing was right in line with the Administration's foreign policy," Ruppe said.[108] "But we haven't heard anything yet about our appeal," Ruppe added.[108] Ruppe was successful in restoring the cuts.[109] In 1996 she remembered the fight for the budget. "This agency's budget has less in purchasing power than when Sargent left it in the '60s. In 1981 it was listed in the 150 Account under 'miscellaneous.' We changed that. Its budget was less than the military marching band. We changed that. In 1983, an official State Department document listed us as the 'Peach Corps.' I said, 'I hope that doesn't mean they will cut us to the pit.'" [109]
[edit] Support from Reagan
Ruppe was eventually able to convince Ronald Reagan, originally a skeptic of the Peace Corps, that the agency had value.[109] "In 1983, I was invited to the White House for the state visit of Prime Minister Ratu Mara of Fiji. Everyone took their seats around this enormous table - President Reagan, Vice President Bush, Caspar Weinberger, the rest of the Cabinet, with the Prime Minister and his delegation, and myself. They talked about world conditions, sugar quotas, nuclear free zones. The President then asked the Prime Minister to make his presentation. A very distinguished gentleman, he drew himself up and said, 'President Reagan, I bring you today the sincere thanks of my government and my people.' Everyone held their breath and there was total silence. 'For the men and women of the Peace Corps who go out into our villages, who live with our people.' He went on and on. I beamed. Vice President Bush leaned over afterwards and whispered, 'What did you pay that man to say that?' A week later, the Office of Management and Budget presented the budget to President Reagan with a cut for the Peace Corps. President Reagan said, 'Don't cut the Peace Corps. It's the only thing I got thanked for last week at the State Dinner.' The Peace Corps budget went up. Vice President Bush asked kiddingly again, 'What did you pay?'" [109]
[edit] Non-partisan status of the Peace Corps
Ruppe came under heavy pressure from within the Reagan Administration to politicize her top staff in Washington and to choose only Republican loyalists as Country Directors overseas.[110] In 1981, Ruppe appointed ten country directors who had been selected by the Carter Administration over White House objections.[107] In August 1982, Reagan appointed Edward A. Curran to be Peace Corps deputy director.[107] Prior to this appointment, Curran had served as associate director of White House personnel and as the director of the National Institute of Education.[107] At the Peace Corps, Curran attempted to carry out Reagan Administration policy but Ruppe responded by stripping him of most of his staff and official duties, including authority as acting director in her absence.[107] "Loret's strategy is to make him so miserable that he'll quit," said one Peace Corps employee.[107] "We took Peace Corps out of the pit of politics and made it non-partisan. It must always signify Americans pulling together for peace," said Ruppe. [109]
[edit] Controversy over expansion in Central America
On September 24, 1984 the New York Times reported that the Peace Corps planned to double the number of volunteers serving in Honduras, Guatemala, Costa Rica and Belize to 1,200 workers over the next three years.[111] This move was considered controversial by many returned Peace Corps volunteers who said that it politicized the Peace Corps by bolstering Reagan's fight against communism in Central America.[111] "They have declared the Peace Corps an instrument of U.S. foreign policy and a tool of the Reagan Administration," asserted Francine Dionne, spokesman for the Returned Peace Corps Volunteers Committee on Central America.[111] "Honduras already is running over with volunteers, and with the introduction of American troops, the place is swarming with Americans."[111] Other returned volunteers disagreed.[111] Senator Paul Tsongas who served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ethiopia in the 1960s said "It's important to demonstrate to the countries that we can do more than just send arms."[111] However Tsongas added that he "strongly objected" to ideology lectures being given to new volunteers.[111]
[edit] Appeal for volunteers in Africa
On January 15, 1985 Ruppe issued a nationwide appeal for 600 volunteers to begin famine relief and agricultural work in Mali, Zaire, Lesotho and Niger.[112] The Peace Corps received more than 5,000 inquiries, the largest number since the early 1960s.[112] Ruppe announced that teams of 5 to 10 volunteers would work with small-scale farmers on land preparation, water supply, storage and preservation of crops, processing and marketing assisted by the United States Agency for International Development.[112]
[edit] Other accomplishments
While Ruppe was director, the Peace Corps began or resumed programs in seven countries: Sri Lanka, Haiti, Burundi, Guinea-Bissau, Chad, Equatorial Guinea and the Cape Verde Islands. [113] Ruppe also started the African Food Initiative, Women In Development, and the Leadership for Peace Campaign.[109] Ruppe launched the Competitive Enterprise Development program to promote business-oriented projects.[citation needed] She created business-oriented volunteer positions within the Peace Corps to promote grass roots economic growth worldwide, an agenda that was supported by Republicans in the U.S. Congress who generally disapproved of U.S. foreign aid programs.[citation needed]
[edit] Ambassador to Norway
Ruppe was appointed Ambassador to Norway on August 7, 1989 by President George H. W. Bush and presented her credentials on August 29, 1989. She served as Ambassador until February 28, 1993.[114]
[edit] Personal life
A resident of Bethesda, Maryland, Ruppe died of ovarian cancer on August 7, 1996.[102] Ruppe was survived by her husband, five daughters, five sisters and a brother.[102] Inspired by her mother, Miller Ruppe's daughter, Dr. Loret Miller Ruppe, served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Nepal from 1985 to 1987 and later organized conferences aimed at encouraging under-represented minorities and women to enter engineering.[115]
[edit] Honors and awards
On September 5, 1996 Senator Chris Dodd who served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Dominican Republic, honored Ruppe with a speech on the floor of the Senate: "When President Reagan appointed her in 1981, the Peace Corps budget was rapidly declining and was less than that of the military marching bands. By the end of Mrs. Ruppe's tenure she had succeeded in increasing the agency's budget almost 50 percent. In addition to budgetary challenges, Mrs. Ruppe gave the agency a political facelift by projecting the agency as non-partisan, despite the fact that she herself was a political appointee, and increasing its viability on both national and local levels. As she noted `We took Peace Corps out of the pit of politics and made it non-partisan. It must always signify Americans pulling together for peace.' As a result of her efforts, Mrs. Ruppe was respected and admired by Democrats and Republicans alike. In terms of national visibility, she brought much needed congressional and executive level attention to the Peace Corps. Prior to her leadership the organization was nicknamed `the corpse' and many believed its end was near. Under her command however, the organization was revitalized and its future secured. On a local level, she worked hard to increase young Americans' interest in participating in the program. By 1989, she had raised the number of volunteers by 20 percent."[116]
On October 4, 1996 Michigan Tech dedicated the new Master's International Program in Forestry to Ruppe.[117] "The new master's program is a wonderful tribute to Loret Ruppe, and a wonderful opportunity for the Peace Corps and Michigan Tech," said John Hogan, Peace Corps associate director for international operations.[117] In 2002 Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa dedicated the Loret Ruppe International Student Scholarships to honor the late Loret Miller Ruppe, former director of the Peace Corps and U.S. Ambassador to Norway, whose conviction was that "peace work needs to be everybody's work".[118] The Mary Anne Foundation dedicated the Loret Miller Ruppe Ambassador for Peace Award "to tap into the original and creative thinking of the young, regarding the issues of conflict resolution, forgiveness and reconciliation." [119] The National Peace Corps Association makes an annual Loret Miller Ruppe Award for Outstanding Community Service to a member group for a project that promote the Third Goal of Peace Corps. [120]
[edit] Citations
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- ^ a b c d New York Times. "Peace Corps seeks a review of cuts." November 1, 1981.
- ^ a b c d e f Peace Corps Online. "Loret Ruppe's Speech at the 35th Anniversary Celebration of The Peace Corps." March 1-3, 1996
- ^ New York Times. "Peace Corps, Revived, Seeks new Challenges." February 27, 1982
- ^ a b c d e f g New York Times. "Peace Corps; Some ex-volunteers uneasy over Central American role." September 24, 1984.
- ^ a b c New York Times. "Peace Corps gets 5,000 calls in drive for African volunteers." January 15, 1985.
- ^ Associated Press. "Loret Ruppe, Peace Corps' longest-serving director dies at 60." August 7, 1996.
- ^ US Department of State. "Ambassadors to Norway."
- ^ Mining Gazette. "Loret Miller Ruppe." June 2, 1007.
- ^ United States Senate. "Tribute to Loret Miller Ruppe." September 4, 1996.
- ^ a b Michigan Tech. "New Peace Corps forestry MS program dedicated to Loret Ruppe." October 4, 1996.
- ^ The Moscow EducationUSA Advising Center. "Scholarship Awards for International Students"
- ^ Peace through love. "History of The Loret Miller Ruppe Ambassador for Peace Award"
- ^ National Peace Corps Association. "The Loret Miller Ruppe Award for Outstanding Community Service"
[edit] External links
- Jack Vaughn Reflects on His Peace Corps Experience Peace Corps Volunteer, May, 1969 Pages 5-7
- Peace Corps News Clips about Jack Vaughn
- An Interview with Joseph Blatchford Peace Corps Volunteer magazine. May, 1970 Pages 5-13
- Peace Corps News Clips about Joseph Blatchford
- Peace Corps News clips about O'Donnell
- Peace Corps biography of Carolyn Payton
- Peace Corps biography of Loret Ruppe Miller
