Design concept for the national Peace Corps Commemorative has been approved
The Peace Corps Commemorative is expected to be completed and dedicated in 2023. Just in time for the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Peace Corps, the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts (CFA), at its September 17 meeting, voted unanimously to approve the design concept for the national Peace Corps Commemorative. Designed and presented by artist/sculptor Larry Kirkland and landscape architect Michael Vergason of MVLA, the commemorative will be located on a small, triangular National Park Service site facing Louisiana Avenue, NW, in the heart of Washington, D.C., one block from the National Mall and the U.S. Capitol Building...
In Memoriam: Former Peace Corps Director Joseph Blatchford
Third director of the agency, he led during turbulent times By Steven Boyd Saum The Peace Corps community mourns the loss of Joseph H. Blatchford, third director of the Peace Corps. He took on that role at a time that heralded, he said, a “new world and a different America from 1961” when the Peace Corps was launched. Joseph Blatchford was appointed to lead the Peace Corps by President Richard Nixon in May 1969 — and he headed the agency during turbulent times of Nixon’s first administration. Tapped for the post at 34 years old, he came with nearly a...
JFK at the Union: The Impromptu Campaign Speech that Launched the Peace Corps
Well after midnight on October 14, 1960, presidential candidate John F. Kennedy arrived at the steps of the Michigan Union. Legend has it that he first proposed the idea of the Peace Corps here. The truth is a little more complex, but far more interesting. By James Tobin Senator John F. Kennedy’s motorcade rolled into Ann Arbor very early on the morning of Friday, October 14, 1960. The election was three and a half weeks away. The Democratic nominee for president and his staff had just flown into Willow Run Airport. A few hours earlier, in New York, Kennedy had fought Vice...
Looking Back at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom: A Conversation with Betty Currie
On August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King gave the “I Have a Dream” speech that has become a defining moment in American History. Women of Peace Corps Legacy interview founding member Betty Currie about her experience there. by Katie McSheffrey Betty Currie‘s long career with Peace Corps began in 1969, after her job at USAID ended. She was initially recruited to work in the Africa Region as the secretary for the regional director. When the newly appointed Peace Corps Director, Joseph Blatchford, needed a secretary, Betty’s talents were already known at the agency. “The job was a crucial one. It had 10,000 people spread out over...
Aaron Williams: In international development, it’s time to tackle systemic racism.
Williams issues a clarion call for building a more inclusive network for global development. And he explores the arc of Peace Corps history in an interview about the documentary A Towering Task. By Del Wood and Steven Boyd Saum We are in an historic moment. The protests against racial injustice that have swept the United States and scores of other countries since the end of May were sparked by the killing of George Floyd — one of so many Black women and men killed by police. The protests erupted with anger and frustration — and not only among Blacks. They have also ushered...
In Memoriam: Harris Wofford (1926 – 2019)
A legendary figure in the launch of the Peace Corps dies at age 92. He was a student of Gandhi's methods of bringing political change through non-violent direct action. An associate and friend of Martin Luther King Jr. during the early years of the civil rights movement. A key adviser to the presidential campaign of John F. Kennedy who facilitated a key meeting between JFK and MLK which eventually led to a critical phone call that is credited with tipping the election to Kennedy. He was a World War II era veteran. A university president. A United States Senator. But for tens of...
In Memoriam – January 2018
An iconic country music songwriter. An RPCV whose journey to the Peace Corps began in Nazi Germany. Leaders in the fields of mediation and conflict resolution. There's a long, lifetime of accomplishments among those we honor who recently passed away, and we are especially saddened by the untimely death of a serving volunteer. The Peace Corps community mourns the recent death of Bernice Heiderman (1993 - 2018), who passed away suddenly while serving as a volunteer in Comoros. A graduate of the University of Illinois at Chicago, Bernice was an education volunteer, teaching English at a junior high school on the island...