(Soft) Power Play

An accomplished diplomat explains how Peace Corps projects American strength

Ambassador Johnnie Carson (Tanzania 1965–67) served as Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs during the Obama administration, as well as ambassador to several African nations. Carson spoke with WorldView editor Robert Nolan, and calls RPCVs the “most important representatives and ambassadors of goodwill around the world.”

Robert Nolan: I thought we could start first with a little bit about your Peace Corps experience.

Johnnie Carson: I graduated from college and entered the Peace Corps in June of 1965. I was assigned to Tanzania in East Africa and served for over two and a half years in a middle school. During the holiday seasons, I generally went out and supported medical projects, traveled with Peace Corps doctors who were part of efforts to provide DPT [diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus] and polio shots to different communities around Tanzania. I did that on almost all of my vacations. For the holidays when we could travel, I generally would visit Dar es Salaam, or Nairobi, or places in Uganda and even as far as Ethiopia.

It was the period of African socialism. It was the era of umoja. And the Cold War was happening at the same time, of course. When I’d sometimes see Foreign Service officers in Dar es Salaam, they would notice my keen interest in the region. They said, “You’re traveling a lot. You’re seeing a lot of people talking with a lot of people. You’d probably make a good Foreign Service officer,” they told me.

RN: Which of the tools you learned in Peace Corps did you find most useful once you embarked on a career in diplomacy?

JC: One is to listen and try to understand another person’s point of view, and to be empathetic to the circumstances, the context, and the conditions under which they’re operating. I’m also aware of the fact that just because important and good things don’t happen rapidly or as rapidly as we may like, it’s not always because of the shortcomings and the failures of the individuals trying to
achieve them.

I do not believe there is any major organization working in the development and international political arena that has not benefited directly and sustainably and significantly from
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer contributions.

RN: We’re currently seeing the dissolution of America’s soft power infrastructure due to the extreme downsizing of the federal government. What are your thoughts on the role Peace Corps plays within that larger community of organizations?

JC: First of all, Peace Corps is the singular, best international voluntary organization ever created. Since its inception, it has allowed the United States to project its most important values in every part of the world. The 250,000 Americans who have served in the Peace Corps have been America’s most important representatives and ambassadors of goodwill around the world, promoting who we are and what we want everyone to be able to achieve.

Peace Corps has also created a cadre of American experts with on-the-ground knowledge, language skills, historical background, and cultural sensitivity about people overseas and around the world. They have brought that level of understanding back to the United States and infused it not only into academia, but also into our non-governmental organizations and our government at every level, from the State Department to USAID, the Department of Defense, the Department of Agriculture. We have seen dozens of former Peace Corps Volunteers enter the diplomatic service. And we’ve seen many of them rise to the rank of ambassador. Some of our most important development officials at USAID, or the African Development Foundation, or the Inter-American Foundation, have all been Peace Corps Volunteers.

I do not believe there is any major organization working in the development and international political arena that has not benefited directly and sustainably and significantly from
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer contributions.

Editor’s Note: This interview has been edited and condensed for brevity and clarity.