Peace Corps

Peace Corps
US-PeaceCorps-Logo.svg
Peace Corps logo
Agency overview
Formed March 1, 1961
Headquarters Washington, D.C
Annual budget US$ 400 million (FY 2010)[1]
Agency executives Aaron S. Williams, Director
Carrie Hessler-Radelet, Deputy Director
Website
http://www.peacecorps.gov

The Peace Corps is an American volunteer program run by the United States Government, as well as a governmental agency of the same name. Each program participant, or Peace Corps Volunteer, is an American citizen who commits to working abroad in an assignment for the organization for a period of twenty four months after three months of training. Generally, the work to be performed is related to international development. Specialties include education, business, information technology, agriculture, and the environment. In addition to its mandate of providing technical assistance in these areas, Peace Corps is also charged with increasing mutual international understanding. The mission of the Peace Corps includes three goals, which are providing technical assistance, helping people outside the United States understand the culture of the United States, and helping Americans understand the culture of other countries.

It was established by Executive Order 10924 on March 1, 1961, and authorized by Congress on September 22, 1961, with passage of the Peace Corps Act (Public Law 87-293). The act declares the program's purpose as follows:

To promote world peace and friendship through a Peace Corps, which shall make available to interested countries and areas men and women of the United States qualified for service abroad and willing to serve, under conditions of hardship if necessary, to help the peoples of such countries and areas in meeting their needs for trained manpower.

Since 1961, over 200,000 Americans have joined the Peace Corps, serving in 139 countries.

Contents

Purpose and function

Countries in which the Peace Corps currently works (orange) and in which it has worked previously (purple).

The Peace Corps sends American volunteers with legitimate college degrees around the globe, to more than 70 countries, to work with governments, schools, non-profit organizations, non-government organizations, and entrepreneurs in the areas of education, health, business, information technology, agriculture, and the environment.

History

John F. Kennedy greets volunteers on August 28, 1961.

Following the end of the Second World War, various members of the United States Congress proposed bills to establish volunteer organizations in Developing Countries. In 1952 Senator Brien McMahon (D-Connecticut) proposed an "army" of young Americans to act as "missionaries of democracy." Privately funded nonreligious organizations began sending volunteers overseas during the 1950s.

While President John F. Kennedy is credited with the creation of the Peace Corps, the first initiative came from Senator Hubert H. Humphrey, Jr. (D-Minnesota), who introduced the first bill to create the Peace Corps in 1957—three years prior to JFK and his University of Michigan speech. In his autobiography The Education of a Public Man, Hubert Humphrey wrote: "There were three bills of particular emotional importance to me: the Peace Corps, a disarmament agency, and the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. The President, knowing how I felt, asked me to introduce legislation for all three. I introduced the first Peace Corps bill in 1957. It did not meet with much enthusiasm. Some traditional diplomats quaked at the thought of thousands of young Americans scattered across their world. Many senators, including liberal ones, thought it silly and an unworkable idea. Now, with a young president urging its passage, it became possible and we pushed it rapidly through the Senate. It is fashionable now to suggest that Peace Corps Volunteers gained as much or more, from their experience as the countries they worked. That may be true, but it ought not demean their work. They touched many lives and made them better."

Peace Corps headquarters at 1111 20th Street, NW in downtown Washington, D.C.

Only in 1959, however, did the proposal for a national program of service abroad first receive serious attention in Washington when Congressman Henry S. Reuss of Wisconsin advanced the ideas of a "Point Four Youth Corps". In 1960, he and Senator Richard L. Neuberger of Oregon introduced identical measures calling for a nongovernmental study of the "advisability and practicability" of such a venture. Both the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee endorsed the idea of a study, the latter writing the Reuss proposal into the Mutual Security legislation then pending before it. In this form it became law in June 1960. In August the Mutual Security Appropriations Act was enacted, making available US$10,000 for the study, and in November ICA contracted with the Maurice Albertson, Andrew E. Rice, and Pauline E. Birky of Colorado State University Research Foundation[2] to make the study.[3]

John F. Kennedy first announced his own idea for such an organization during the 1960 presidential campaign, at a late-night speech at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor on October 14, 1960. A few weeks later on November 1 in San Francisco, California, he dubbed this proposed organization the "Peace Corps". Critics of the program (including Kennedy's opponent, Richard M. Nixon) claimed the program would be nothing but a haven for draft dodgers. Others doubted whether college-age volunteers had the necessary skills. The idea was popular among college students, however, and Kennedy continued to pursue it, asking respected academics such as Max Millikan and Chester Bowles to help him outline the organization and its goals. During his inaugural address, Kennedy again promised to create the program: "And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country".[4]

President Kennedy in a speech at the White House on June 22, 1962 "Remarks to Student Volunteers Participating in Operation Crossroads Africa" acknowledged that Operation Crossroads for Africa was the basis for the development of the Peace Corps. "This group and this effort really were the progenitors of the Peace Corps and what this organization has been doing for a number of years led to the establishment of what I consider to be the most encouraging indication of the desire for service not only in this country but all around the world that we have seen in recent years". [5]

The Peace Corps website answered thee question "Who Inspired the Creation of the Peace Corps?", acknowledged that the Peace Corps were based on Operation Crossroads Africa founded by Rev. James H. Robinson.[6]

Establishment and authorization

Executive Order 10924

On March 1, 1961, Kennedy signed an Executive Order 10924 that officially started the Peace Corps. Concerned with the growing tide of revolutionary sentiment in the Third World, Kennedy saw the Peace Corps as a means of countering the notions of the "Ugly American" and "Yankee imperialism," especially in the emerging nations of post-colonial Africa and Asia.[7][8]

On March 4, Kennedy appointed his brother-in-law Sargent Shriver to be the program's first director. Shriver was tasked with fleshing out the organization, which he did with the help of Warren Wiggins and others.[2] Shriver and his think tank outlined the three major goals of the Peace Corps and decided the number of volunteers they needed to recruit. The program began recruiting volunteers that following July.

Until about 1967, applicants to the Peace Corps had to pass a placement test that tested "general aptitude" (knowledge of various skills needed for Peace Corps assignments) and language aptitude. After an address from Kennedy, who was introduced by Rev. Russell Fuller of Memorial Christian Church, Disciples of Christ, on August 28, 1961, the first group of volunteers left for Ghana and Tanzania. The program was formally authorized by Congress on September 22, 1961, and within two years over 7,300 Peace Corps volunteers were serving in 44 countries. This number would jump to 15,000 in June 1966, which was the largest number in the organization's history.

Early controversy

The organization experienced major controversy in its first year of operation. On October 13, 1961, a postcard was written by a volunteer named Margery Jane Michelmore in Nigeria to a friend in the U.S. She described her situation in Nigeria as "squalor and absolutely primitive living conditions."[9][10] However, this postcard never made it out of the country.[10] The University of Ibadan College Students Union demanded deportation and accused the volunteers of being "America's international spies" and the project as "a scheme designed to foster neocolonialism."[11] Soon the international press picked up the story, leading several people in the U.S. administration to question the future of the program as a whole.[12] Nigerian students protested the program, and the American volunteers sequestered themselves and eventually began a hunger strike.[10] After several days, the Nigerian students agreed to open a dialogue with the Americans.

Independent status

1965 in-country identification card

By 1966, more than 15,000 volunteers were working in the field, the largest number in the Peace Corps' history.[3] In July 1971, President Richard Nixon, an opponent of the program, brought the Peace Corps under the umbrella agency ACTION. President Jimmy Carter, an advocate of the program, said that his mother, who had served as a nurse in the program, had "one of the most glorious experiences of her life" in the Peace Corps.[13] In 1979, he declared it fully autonomous in an executive order. This independent status would be further secured when Congress passed legislation in 1981 to make the organization an independent federal agency.

Programs diversified

Although the earliest Peace Corps volunteers were typically thought of as educational, agriculture and community development generalists, the Peace Corps had a variety of requests for technical personnel essentially from the start. For example, geologists were among the first volunteers requested by Ghana, an early country for the Peace Corps. An article in Geotimes (a trade publication) in 1963 reviewed the program up to that time, with a follow-up history of Peace Corps geoscientists appearing in that publication in 2004.[14] During the Nixon Administration the Peace Corps had foresters, computer scientists, and small business advisors among its volunteers.

In 1982, President Reagan appointed director Loret Miller Ruppe, who initiated several new business-related programs. For the first time, a large number of conservative and Republican volunteers joined the contingent of overseas volunteers, and the organization continued to reflect the evolving political and social conditions in the United States. Funding cuts during the early 1980s dropped the number of volunteers to 5,380, its lowest level since the organization's early years. Funding began to increase in 1985, and Congress passed an initiative to raise the number of volunteers to 10,000 by 1992.

After the September 11, 2001, attacks alerted the nation to growing anti-U.S. sentiment in the Middle East, President George W. Bush pledged to double the size of the organization within five years as a part of the War on Terrorism. For the 2004 fiscal year, Congress passed a budget increase at US$325 million, US$30 million above that of 2003 but US$30 million below the President's request.

As part of an economic stimulus package in 2008, Barack Obama also said he would double the size of the Peace Corps.[15] However, as of 2010, the amount of money requested by President Obama was less than what is needed to reach this goal by 2011. Peace Corps supporters successfully lobbied Congress to raise the 2010 appropriation from the US$373 million requested by the President to US$400 million, and bills in the House and Senate would raise this even further for 2011 and 2012.[16]

The Peace Corps is trying to recruit more diverse volunteers of different ages. According to former director Gaddi Vasquez this would make it look "more like America".[17] An article published by the Harvard International Review in 2007 argues that the time has come not only to expand the Peace Corps but also to revisit its mission and equip it with new technology to transform it into a 21st-century engine for peace through the global sharing of knowledge.[18]

In 1961 only 1% of volunteers were over 50, compared with 5% today. Ethnic minorities currently comprise 17% of volunteers.[1]

Peace Corps Response

Peace Corps Response, formerly named the Crisis Corps, was created by Peace Corps Director Mark Gearan in 1996.[19] Gearan modeled the Crisis Corps after the National Peace Corps Association's successful Emergency Response Network (ERN) of Returned Peace Corps Volunteers willing to respond to crises when needed; first brought about in response to the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.[20] On November 19, 2007 Peace Corps Director Ronald Tschetter announced that Crisis Corps will be changing its name to Peace Corps Response.[21]

This change is the result of an ongoing effort by the Peace Corps to better define the work of its volunteers. The change to Peace Corps Response will allow Peace Corps to broaden their approach to their five programming areas to include projects that do not necessarily rise to the level of a ‘crisis.’ The program sends former Peace Corps volunteers to foreign countries to take on short-term, high-impact assignments that typically range from three to six months in duration.

Peace Corps Response volunteers generally receive the same allowances and benefits as their Peace Corps counterparts, including round-trip transportation, living and readjustment allowances, and medical care. Minimum qualifications for Crisis Corps volunteers include completion of at least one year of Peace Corps service, excluding training, in addition to medical and legal clearances. The Crisis Corps title will be retained as a unique branch within Peace Corps Response, designed for volunteers who are deployed to true “crisis” situations, such as disaster relief following hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, volcanic eruptions and other catastrophes.

Laws governing the Peace Corps

U.S. Code

Public law as currently amended governing Peace Corps is contained in the Title 22 of the United States Code - Foreign Relations and Intercourse, Chapter 34 - The Peace Corps (22USC2501-22USC2523)[22]

Code of Federal Regulations

The Peace Corps is also subject to Federal Regulations as prescribed by public law and executive order and contained in Code of Federal Regulations under Title 22 - Foreign Relations, Chapter 3 - Peace Corps (22CFR301 - 22CFR312)[23]

Work with the Environment

Volunteers work at preserving the environment through forest conservation plans to educating people on how to protect their local environment, with a large number of activities in between. Environmental work is done in many countries throughout the world, but is determined by the heads of the Peace Corps to determine the needs of a country. If it is determined that a country is in need for environmental assistance, there are a few programs that have already been created; looking into the country’s specific needs determines which program or programs will be implemented in the country. Whether that is through more effective and efficient forms of farming, recycling, park management, educating the youth regarding the environment, and even working to develop alternative fuel sources.[24]

1. Protected-Areas Management:

a. Volunteers work with national parks or other government programs to teach and train people in natural resource conservation. Volunteer activities: technical training for park managers, working with park staff regarding preserving wildlife, organizing community-based conservation programs for sustainable use of forests or marine resources, and creating activities for communities in the environment that can raise a revenue to protect the environment.

b. Volunteers that work in this area must have a bachelor’s degree or three years of work experience regarding wildlife biology or management, natural resource management, or park planning and management.

c. Volunteers must have some experience in related fields, such as in work or internships, conducting biological surveys, environmental campaigns, conservation efforts or local conservation efforts.[25]

2. Environment Education or Awareness:

a. This program is focused on communities that are having environmental issues regarding their basic need for farming and income. This program is very open to people’s creativity, if someone has a great plan or way of improving the community it will be taken into consideration and tried to implement. Some of the activities that people have come up with are: teaching in elementary and secondary schools; environmental education to youth programs; creation of environmental groups; endorse forest and marine resource sustainability; ways of generating money through activities in the environment; sanitation management in urban areas; and provide education to farmers regarding soil conservation, forestry, and vegetable gardening.

b. Volunteers working in this program must have a bachelor’s degree in environmental science, ecology or natural resource conservation, or a degree in any discipline with two years of professional experience organizing and leading environmental activities.

c. Volunteers must have a significant amount of experience working or interning as a park guide, docent at a zoo or natural history museum or as a primary school teacher. Other experience could be in environmental awareness activities, low-input vegetable production, local conservation activities, or work as an environmental camp counselor.[26]

3. Forestry

a. Program works with communities to help them conserve natural resources through many projects, such as: soil conservation; flood control; creation of sustainable fuels; improvement in agroforestry, such as fruit and vegetable production; alley cropping; and protection of biodiversity, the protection of different organisms in the environment.

b. Volunteers must have a bachelor’s or associate degree in forestry, or natural resource management, environmental science or ecology. Volunteers also qualify with a degree in biology, botany, ornamental horticulture (concern for flower arrangement and landscape design), or geology and some time with growing or field experience. Another possibility is a person with a degree in any discipline and at least three years of work experience in forestry or nursery management.

c. Volunteers must have at least six months of experience working with gardening, farming or nursery management. Also possible experience in vegetable production, tree planting or local conservation activities, landscaping, high level of comfort working outdoors, understating of how to manage natural resource, and use of computer programs regarding environmental research and modeling.[27]

Executive orders

Peace Corps was originally established by Executive Order, and has been modified by several subsequent executive orders including:

Public laws

Public laws are passed by Congress and the President and create or modify the U.S. Code. The first public law establishing Peace Corps in the US Code was The Peace Corps Act passed by the 87th Congress and signed into law on September 22, 1961. Several public laws have modified the Peace Corps Act, including:

Military Regulations

Former members of the Peace Corps may not be assigned to military intelligence duties for a period of 4 years following service with the Peace Corps. Furthermore, they are forever prohibited from serving in a military intelligence posting to any country in which they volunteered.[39]

Time limits on employment

Peace Corps employees receive time-limited appointments and most employees are limited to a maximum of five years (60 months) of employment with the agency. This time-limit is referred to as the "five-year rule" and was established to ensure that Peace Corps' staff remain fresh and innovative. Another rule related to the "five year rule" specifies that former Peace Corps employees cannot be re-employed by Peace Corps until they have been out of the agency's employment for the same amount of time that they worked for the Peace Corps. Service as a Peace Corps Volunteer overseas is not counted for the purposes of either of these rules.[40]

Union Representation of Domestic Employees

Non-supervisory Peace Corps domestic employees are represented by the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 3548. The Federal Labor Relations Agency certified the Union on May 11, 1983. About 500 domestic employees are represented by AFSCME Local 3548. The current Collective Bargaining Agreement governing the relationship between Labor employees and Management became effective on April 21, 1995.

Leadership

Directors

Director Aaron S. Williams.

In July 2009, President Barack Obama nominated Aaron S. Williams, a career international development specialist, to serve as the new Director of the Peace Corps. At the time of his nomination he was serving as vice president for international development at RTI International, a nonprofit research institute headquartered in North Carolina, with offices in the U.S. and around the world. A former senior official with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Williams was a volunteer in the Peace Corps in the Dominican Republic in 1967-70. He also was coordinator of minority recruitment for the Peace Corps in Chicago in 1970-71. Williams was confirmed by unanimous consent of the Senate on Friday, August 7, 2009.[41] On August 25, 2009 Mr. Williams was sworn in as the eighteenth Director of the Peace Corps.

Director service dates appointed by notes
1 R. Sargent Shriver 1961–1966 Kennedy Three days after President Kennedy signed an Executive Order establishing the Peace Corps, Shriver became its first director. Deployment was rapid: volunteers arrived in five countries during 1961. In just under six years, Shriver developed programs in 55 countries with more than 14,500 volunteers.
2 Jack Vaughn 1966–1969 Johnson Vaughn took steps to improve Peace Corps marketing, programming, and volunteer support as large numbers of former volunteers joined the Peace Corps staff. He also promoted volunteer assignments in conservation, natural resource management, and community development.
3 Joseph Blatchford 1969–1971 Nixon Blatchford served as head of the new ACTION agency, which encompassed U.S. domestic and foreign volunteer service programs including the Peace Corps. He created the Office of Returned Volunteers to help volunteers serve in their communities at home, and initiated New Directions, a program emphasizing volunteer skills.
4 Kevin O'Donnell 1971–1972 Nixon O'Donnell's appointment was the first for a former Peace Corps country director (Korea, 1966–70). He worked tirelessly to save the Peace Corps from budget cuts, and believed strongly in a non-career Peace Corps. He resigned as director six years after first joining the Peace Corps.
5 Donald Hess 1972–1973 Nixon Hess initiated training of volunteers in the host country where they would eventually serve. With this came the greater utilization of host country nationals in the training programs. The training provided more realistic preparation, and costs dropped for the agency. Hess also sought to end the down-sizing of the Peace Corps.
6 Nicholas Craw 1973–1974 Nixon Craw sought to increase the number of volunteers in the field and to stabilize the agency's future. He introduced a goal-setting measurement plan, the Country Management Plan, which gave a firm foundation for increased congressional support and for improved resource allocation across Peace Corps' 69 countries.
7 John Dellenback 1975–1977 Ford Dellenback worked to make the best possible health care available to volunteers. He also placed great emphasis on recruiting generalists. He believed in taking committed applicants without specific development skills and providing concentrated training to prepare them for service.
8 Carolyn R. Payton 1977–1978 Carter Payton was the first female director and the first African American. As director, she believed strongly in reflecting America's diversity in the corps of volunteers and worked tirelessly to convince young people that Peace Corps service would enrich their lives.
9 Richard F. Celeste 1979–1981 Carter Celeste focused on the role of women in development and was successful in involving women and minorities in the agency, particularly for staff positions. He invested heavily in training, including the development of a worldwide core curriculum, so that all volunteers had a common context in which to work.
10 Loret Miller Ruppe 1981–1989 Reagan Ruppe was the longest-serving director and a champion of women in development. She launched the Competitive Enterprise Development program to promote business-oriented projects. She also established the Caribbean Basin Initiative, the Initiative for Central America and the African Food Systems Initiative to help address regional challenges. Ruppe was highly regarded by volunteers for her tireless energy and enthusiasm.
11 Paul Coverdell 1989–1991 G.H.W. Bush Coverdell established two programs with a domestic focus. World Wise Schools enabled U.S. students to correspond with volunteers serving overseas in an effort to promote international awareness and cross-cultural understanding. Fellows/USA assisted Returned Peace Corps volunteers in pursuing graduate studies while serving local communities in the U.S.
12 Elaine Chao 1991–1992 G.H.W. Bush Chao was the first Asian American to serve as director. She expanded Peace Corps' presence in Eastern Europe and Central Asia by establishing the first Peace Corps programs in Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, and other newly independent countries.
13 Carol Bellamy 1993–1995 Clinton Bellamy was the first RPCV (Returned Peace Corps volunteer) (Guatemala 1963–65) to be director. She reinvigorated relations with Returned Peace Corps volunteers and launched the first Peace Corps web site.
14 Mark D. Gearan 1995–1999 Clinton Gearan established the Crisis Corps, a program that allows Returned peace Corps volunteers to help overseas communities recover from natural disasters and humanitarian crises. He supported expanding the corps of volunteers and opened new volunteer programs in South Africa, Jordan, Bangladesh and Mozambique.
15 Mark L. Schneider 1999–2001 Clinton Schneider was the second RPCV (El Salvador, 1966–68) to head the agency. He launched an initiative to increase volunteers' participation in helping prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS in Africa, and also sought volunteers to work on information technology projects to enhance development of overseas communities.
16 Gaddi Vasquez 2002–2006 G.W. Bush Gaddi H. Vasquez was the first Hispanic American to serve as director. His focus as director was to revitalize the Peace Corps through a comprehensive outreach and recruitment program focused on attracting a diverse group of volunteers and staff.
17 Ron Tschetter September 2006–2008 G.W. Bush The third RPCV to head the agency, Tschetter served in India in the mid 1960s. Confirmed by the Senate September 13, 2006 and sworn in on September 26, 2006. He launched an initiative known as the "50 and Over," to increase the participation of older men and women with defined skills and abilities.
18 Aaron S. Williams August 2009–Present Obama Aaron S. Williams was sworn in as the eighteenth Director of the Peace Corps on August 24, 2009. Nominated by President Barack Obama and confirmed by the U. S. Senate on August 8, 2009, Mr. Williams is the fourth director in the Peace Corps’ history to have served as a Peace Corps Volunteer.

Inspector General

The Peace Corps Office of Inspector General (OIG) detects and investigates misconduct or wrongdoing to the OIG. Current office holder is Kathy A. Buller. The OIG issues General Audit reports and Program Evaluation reports of the Peace Corps.[42]

In popular culture

Books

Hundreds of Returned Peace Corps volunteers have written books about their countries of service[43] but seven books that are among the most notable for capturing the positive and the negative of the Peace Corps experience are the following:

Films

In popular culture, the Peace Corps has been used as a comedic plot device in such movies as Airplane!, Shallow Hal, Christmas with the Kranks, and Volunteers or used to set the scene for a historic era as when Frances "Baby" Houseman tells the audience she plans to join the Peace Corps in the introduction to the movie Dirty Dancing. The Peace Corps has also been documented on film and examined more seriously and in more depth in movies such as the following:

In the movie "Walk to Remember" the main character, Jamie Sullivan, says she wants to do one year in the Peace Corps.

Notable returned Peace Corps volunteers

See also

References

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Fast Facts What Is Peace Corps? Learn About Peace Corps Peace Corps". http://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=learn.whatispc.fastfacts. Retrieved 2009-01-22. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 http://m.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/Aug/23/ex-volunteers-friends-to-mark-csu-role-in-birth/
  3. ↑ New Frontiers for American Youth: Perspective on the Peace Corps. Public Affairs Press. 1961. 
  4. ↑ The Avalon Project (1997). "Inaugural Address of John F. Kennedy". The Avalon Project at Yale Law School. http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/presiden/inaug/kennedy.htm. Retrieved 2007-05-11. 
  5. ↑ June 22, 1962 Remarks to Student Volunteers Participating in Operation Crossroads Africa. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=8730
  6. ↑ (2005) "Who Inspired the Creation of the Peace Corps". Peace Corps Online.
  7. ↑ Executive Order 10924: Establishment of the Peace Corps. (1961)
  8. ↑ Organization of American Historians
  9. ↑ "Peace Corps Girl Stirs Anger In Nigeria by Alleging 'Squalor'". New York Times. 1961-10-16. pp. 10. 
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 "The infamous Peace Corps postcard". Peace Corps Writers. 2007. http://www.peacecorpswriters.org/pages/2000/0001/001pchist.html. Retrieved 2007-05-11. 
  11. ↑ "Postcard to Friend Reporting 'Primitive Living' Leads to Protest by Students". New York Times. 1961-10-16. pp. 10. 
  12. ↑ "RIFT ON PEACE CORPS HEALING IN NIGERIA". New York Times. 1961-11-07. pp. 7. 
  13. ↑ Yee, Daniel (2005). "Jimmy Carter said his mother's service in the Peace Corps as a nurse when she was 70 years old "was one of the most glorious experiences of her life."". Peace Corps Online. http://peacecorpsonline.org/messages/messages/2629/2029056.html. Retrieved 2007-05-11. 
  14. ↑ Hastings, David, ed., 2004. Geoscientists in the Peace Corps. Geotimes, August 2004.
  15. ↑ http://www.barackobama.com/pdf/NationalServicePlanFactSheet.pdf
  16. ↑ http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/promise/221/double-the-peace-corps/
  17. ↑ http://www.cbs6albany.com/news/peace-3345-corps-percent.html
  18. ↑ http://hir.harvard.edu/index.php?page=article&id=1336&p=2
  19. ↑ Peace Corps Hotline. "Crisis Corps: Opportunity to serve again" by Melinda Bridges. November 1, 2002
  20. ↑ Arnold, David. "Helping Rwanda." WorldView, Spring 1995, Vol. 8, No. 2. pg. 21
  21. ↑ Peace Corps "Peace Corps Press Release" November 19, 2007
  22. ↑ [1]
  23. ↑ "Code of Federal Regulations, Title 22". Government Printing Office. April 1, 2009. http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_09/22cfrv2_09.html. Retrieved 2009-08-01. 
  24. ↑ http://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=learn.whatvol.env
  25. ↑ http://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=learn.whatvol.env.wildlife
  26. ↑ http://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=learn.whatvol.env.enved
  27. ↑ http://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=learn.whatvol.env.forestry
  28. ↑ http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/codification/executive-order/11103.html
  29. ↑ http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/codification/executive-order/12137.html
  30. ↑ http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d094:HR06334:|TOM:/bss/d094query.html|
  31. ↑ http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d095:HR11877:|TOM:/bss/d095query.html|
  32. ↑ http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d096:HR06790:|TOM:/bss/d096query.html|
  33. ↑ http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d097:SN01196:|TOM:/bss/d097query.html|
  34. ↑ http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d099:SN00960:|TOM:/bss/d099query.html|
  35. ↑ http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d099:HR03838:|TOM:/bss/d099query.html|
  36. ↑ http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d102:SN03309:|TOM:/bss/d102query.html|
  37. ↑ http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=105_cong_public_laws&docid=f:publ12.pdf
  38. ↑ http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=106_cong_public_laws&docid=f:publ030.pdf
  39. ↑ "Enlisted Assignments and Utilization Management, Army Regulation 614–200" (PDF). Department of the Army. February 26, 2009. http://www.apd.army.mil/pdffiles/r614_200.pdf. Retrieved 2009-08-01. 
  40. ↑ [2]
  41. ↑ http://peacecorpsconnect.typepad.com/peacecorpspolyglot/2009/08/aaron-williams-confirmed-to-be-the-next-director-of-peace-corps-.html
  42. ↑ www.peacecorps.gov Inspector General. Retrieved 2010-06-12.
  43. ↑ Peace Corps Writers. "915 Peace Corps volunteer writers by country"
  44. ↑ 44.0 44.1 44.2 Tucson Weekly. "Under the Skin of a Locale" by Tom Miller. June 16, 2005.
  45. ↑ International Traveler. "The Farm on the River of Emeralds" by Moritz Thomsen reviewed by Brad Newsham.
  46. ↑ 46.0 46.1 46.2 Peace Corps Writers. "High Risk/High Gain: A Freewheeling Account of Peace Corps Training" by Alan Weiss. Reviewed by John Coyne. May 11, 2005.
  47. ↑ 47.0 47.1 Salon. "Destination: Togo" by Matt Steinglass.
  48. ↑ Amazon Books. "Come as You Are" by Coates Redmond. 1986.
  49. ↑ Peace Corps Writers. "Remembering Coates Remon" by Maureen Carroll. May, 2005.
  50. ↑ 50.0 50.1 50.2 Random House. "A Conversation with Tom Bissell"
  51. ↑ P. David Searles, Amazon.com review posted 06-02-2010
  52. ↑ 52.0 52.1 52.2 "Jimi Sir an American Peace Corps volunteer in Nepal" December 18, 2004.
  53. ↑ 53.0 53.1 New York Daily News. "Disappointed Diallo ma" by Nicole Bode. November 27, 2006. The original link is dead. An archival link is available here.
  54. ↑ 54.0 54.1 54.2 Miami Herald. "Popular film revives Peace Corps rumors: The top movie in Colombia is about the origins of the cocaine trade with an unexpected villain: the U.S. Peace Corps." by Steven Dudley. November 6, 2004. The original story is a dead link. An archival copy is available.
  55. ↑ 55.0 55.1 55.2 Ibiblio. "WE DON'T... WIN? Country Joe & the Revolution in Chile" December 11, 1970.
  56. ↑ 56.0 56.1 56.2 Amigos de Bolivia y Peru. "Sacrificial Llama? The Expulsion of the Peace Corps from Bolivia in 1971" by James F. Siekmeier. The original story is a dead link. An archival copy is available here.

Further reading

External links