1950–1959 In 1950,
Walter Reuther, president of the
United Auto Workers, proposed, in an article titled, "A Proposal for a Total Peace Offensive," that the United States establish a voluntary agency for young Americans to be sent around the world to fulfill humanitarian and development objectives. Subsequently, throughout the 1950s, Reuther gave speeches to the following effect:I have been saying for a long time that I believe the more young Americans who are trained to join with other young people in the world to be sent abroad with slide rule, textbook, and medical kit to help people help themselves with the tools of peace, the fewer young people will need to be sent with guns and weapons of war.In addition, following the end of
World War II, various members of the
United States Congress proposed bills to establish volunteer organizations in
developing countries. In December 1951, Representative
John F. Kennedy (D-
Massachusetts) suggested to a group that "young college graduates would find a full life in bringing technical advice and assistance to the underprivileged and backward Middle East ... In that calling, these men would follow the constructive work done by the religious missionaries in these countries over the past 100 years." 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 Kennedy is credited with the creation of the Peace Corps as president, 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 before Kennedy, as a presidential candidate, would raise the idea during a campaign speech at the
University of Michigan. In his autobiography
The Education of a Public Man, Humphrey wrote, Only in 1959 did the idea receive serious attention in Washington when Congressman
Henry S. Reuss of
Wisconsin proposed 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 idea's "advisability and practicability". Both the
House Foreign Affairs Committee and the
Senate Foreign Relations Committee endorsed the study, the latter writing the Reuss proposal into the pending
Mutual Security legislation. 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
Maurice Albertson,
Andrew E. Rice, and Pauline E. Birky of
Colorado State University Research Foundation for the study.
1960–1969 In August 1960, following the
1960 Democratic National Convention, Walter Reuther visited John F. Kennedy at the Kennedy compound in
Hyannisport to discuss Kennedy's platform and staffing of a future administration. It was there that Reuther got Kennedy to commit to creating the executive agency that would become the Peace Corps. Subsequently, at the urging of Reuther, John F. Kennedy announced the idea for such an organization on October 14, 1960, at a late-night campaign speech at the University of Michigan in
Ann Arbor on the steps of the
Michigan Union. He later dubbed the proposed organization the "Peace Corps." A brass marker commemorates the place where Kennedy stood. In the weeks after the 1960 election, the study group at Colorado State University released their feasibility report a few days before Kennedy's Presidential Inauguration in January 1961. Critics opposed the program. Kennedy's opponent,
Richard M. Nixon, predicted it would become a "cult of
escapism" and "a haven for
draft dodgers." While others doubted whether recent graduates had the necessary skills and maturity for such a task, the idea was popular among students, and Kennedy pursued it. He asked 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". 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". The Peace Corps website answered the question "Who Inspired the Creation of the Peace Corps?", acknowledging that the Peace Corps was based on Operation Crossroads Africa founded by
Rev. James H. Robinson. On March 1, 1961, Kennedy signed
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
stereotype of the "
Ugly American" and "
Yankee imperialism," especially in the emerging nations of post-colonial Africa and Asia. Kennedy appointed his brother-in-law,
Sargent Shriver, to be the program's first director. Shriver fleshed out the organization and his
think tank outlined the organization's goals and set the initial number of volunteers. The Peace Corps began recruiting in July 1962;
Bob Hope recorded radio and television announcements hailing the program. Until about 1967, applicants had to pass a placement test of "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
Tanganyika (now part of
Tanzania). The program was formally authorized by
Congress on September 22, 1961, and within two years over 7,300 volunteers were serving in 44 countries. This number increased to 15,000 in June 1966, the largest number in the organization's history. The organization experienced controversy in its first year of operation. On October 13, 1961, a
postcard from a volunteer named Margery Jane Michelmore in
Nigeria to a friend in the U.S. described her situation in Nigeria as "squalor and absolutely primitive living conditions." This postcard never made it out of the country. Soon the international press picked up the story, leading several people in the U.S. administration to question the program. Nigerian students protested the program, while the American volunteers sequestered themselves and eventually began a
hunger strike. or by joining as a fulfilment of the
alternative service required to maintain
Conscientious Objector status. Joining the Peace Corps secured draft deferment, agreed upon at its creation in 1961, though as the war continued several deferments were not granted and volunteers were forced to end their service early. In 1967, Peace Corps director
Jack Vaughn made a case against drafting PCVs to the Presidential Appeals Board, but was not successful in securing deferments for volunteers. Many existing Peace Corps volunteers stationed around the world protested the Vietnam War, forcing a response from the Peace Corps as a government program. Bruce Murray, a volunteer in Chile, wrote a letter in 1967 protesting the war and sent it to the
New York Times, who did not publish it. It was published locally in Chile and Murray's service was terminated without opportunity to contest or appeal, and he was subsequently drafted after being refused Conscientious Objector status. Murray sued in 1969 and won, and the 1970 protest outside the US embassy in Afghanistan for US vice president
Agnew's visit.
Policies The theme of enabling Americans to volunteer in poor countries appealed to Kennedy because it fit in with his campaign themes of self-sacrifice and
volunteerism, while also providing a way to redefine American relations with the
Third World. Upon taking office, Kennedy issued an executive order establishing the Peace Corps. Shriver, not Kennedy, energetically lobbied Congress for approval. Kennedy proudly took the credit, and ensured that it remained free of CIA influence. He largely left its administration to Shriver, who was often advised by Sally Bowles, particularly regarding maternity protocol for PCVs and representation of the Peace Corps overseas. To avoid the appearance of favoritism to the
Catholic Church, the Corps did not place its volunteers with any religious agencies. In the first twenty-five years, more than 100,000 Americans served in 44 countries as part of the program. Most volunteers taught English in local schools, but many became involved in activities like construction and food delivery. Shriver practiced affirmative action, and women comprised about 40 percent of the first 7000 volunteers. Given the paucity of black college graduates, racial minorities never reached five percent. The Corps developed its own training program, based on nine weeks at an American university, with a focus on conversational language, world affairs, and desired job skills. That was followed by three weeks at a Peace Corps camp in Puerto Rico, and a week or two of orientation in the home and the host country.
1970–1999 In July 1971, President
Richard Nixon, an opponent of the program, She was also the oldest to volunteer at the time until Audrey Thixton from Tulsa Oklahoma volunteered at 75 in 2008 serving in Armenia. In 1979, he made the Peace Corps fully autonomous in an executive order. This independent status was further secured by 1981 legislation making the organization an independent federal agency. In 1976,
Deborah Gardner was found murdered in her home in Tonga, where she was serving in the Peace Corps. Dennis Priven, a fellow Peace Corps worker, was later charged with the murder by the Tonga government. He was found not guilty by reason of insanity, and was sentenced to serve time in a mental institution in Washington D.C. Priven was never admitted to any institution, and the handling of the case has been heavily criticized.
2000–present Although the earliest volunteers were typically thought of as generalists, the Peace Corps had requests for technical personnel from the start. For example, geologists were among the first volunteers requested by
Ghana, an early volunteer host. An article in
Geotimes (a trade publication) in 1963, reviewed the program, with a follow-up history of Peace Corps
geoscientists appearing in that publication in 2004. During the Nixon Administration the Peace Corps included foresters,
computer scientists, and
small business advisers among its volunteers. In 1982, President
Ronald Reagan appointed director
Loret Miller Ruppe, who initiated business-related programs. For the first time, a significant number of conservative and
Republican volunteers joined the Corps, as the organization continued to reflect the evolving political and social conditions in the United States. Funding cuts during the early 1980s reduced the number of volunteers to 5,380, its lowest level since the early years. Funding increased in 1985, when Congress began raising the number of volunteers, reaching 10,000 in 1992. , April 26, 2006. After the 2001
September 11 attacks, which alerted the U.S. 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 increased the budget to 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, President
Barack Obama proposed to double the size of the Peace Corps. However, , the amount requested was insufficient to reach this goal by 2011. In fact, the number of applicants to the Peace Corps declined steadily from a high of 15,384 in 2009 to 10,118 in 2013. Congress raised the 2010 appropriation from the US$373 million requested by the President to US$400 million, and proposed bills would raise this further for 2011 and 2012. According to former director
Gaddi Vasquez, the Peace Corps is trying to recruit more diverse volunteers of different ages and make it look "more like America". A
Harvard International Review article from 2007 proposed to expand the Peace Corps, revisit its mission, and equip it with new technology. In 1961 only 1% of volunteers were over 50, compared with 5% today. In 2009, Casey Frazee, who was sexually assaulted while serving in South Africa, created First Response Action, an
advocacy group for a stronger Peace Corps response for volunteers who are survivors or victims of physical and sexual violence. In 2010, concerns about the safety of volunteers were illustrated by a report, compiled from official public documents, listing hundreds of violent crimes against volunteers since 1989. In 2011, a
20/20 investigation found that "more than 1,000 young American women have been raped or sexually assaulted in the last decade while serving as Peace Corps volunteers in foreign countries." In a historic first, all Peace Corps volunteers worldwide were withdrawn from their host countries on March 15, 2020, due to the
COVID-19 pandemic. Volunteers were not eligible for unemployment or health benefits, although some Members of Congress said they should be. Legislators also called upon
FEMA to hire Peace Corps volunteers until the end of their service. In June 2020, the Peace Corps ended its programs in China. ==Application and volunteer process==