A Tour Through the Peace Corps

WASHINGTON, D.C.--The Peace Corps occupies three floors of a fairly typical, utterly unimaginative office building in downtown Washington. Through square windows set regularly into the light gray stone you can see Connecticut Avenue and a few of the neighbors--the Chamber of Commerce and the ICA. About two blocks away, across a park that is the home of a number of pigeons, squirrels, and a rather weatherbeaten statue of Andrew Jackson astride his favorite thoroughbred, is the White House.

Lone evidence in the lobby of the building of its frantic occupants is a sign that says "Peace Corps Personnel, Room 500." Aside from the incredible number of loose papers that occupy just about every bit of spare room, one notices several things that symbolize the Peace Corps project.

One is a series of four pictures hanging on the light green wall opposite the elevators (which are not used very often, the stairs are quicker). The first shows a group of workers planting seed in an African village; the second, aged tribal chieftains dressed in colorful native costumes, bending over simple textbooks in an outdoor classroom. A third picture shows an Oriental girl, her jet black hair cropped to look like an overturned bowl, gazing suspiciously at a glass of milk and a piece of bread placed before her on a gay print tablecloth. The fourth picture is of two tiny children. Their hands are gripping a wooden railing of some sort, and their eyes are open wide, fascinated by something to the right, outside the picture.

Kennedy Inspiration

Also, displayed prominently, is an enlargement of the portion of President Kennedy's Inaugural address that contains the sentence "And let every man and woman who works in any area of our national government, in any branch, at any level, be able to say with pride and honor in future years: 'I served the United States Government in that hour of our country's need.'" The word 'served' is in italics.

Then there is a large colored map that hangs over the head table of a long conference room. Yellow areas, indicating the presence of ICA personnel, are heavily-scattered all over except for a large brown mass that dominates the center of the map. In small white letters are the words "soviet bloc."

Most noticeable in the Peace Corps office is the people. They don't stroll through the halls, they walk with a brisk stride, if not a canter. They type furiously, answer telephones at a fantastic rate, and always seem to be smiling.

Out of Chaos...

At this point the smiles would seem to be well justified. Established by Executive Order on March 1, the Corps has developed into an efficient, if not always smooth and neat, organization. At hearings on the Peace Corps Bill conducted by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. Stuart Symington (D-Mo.) publicly lauded Director R. Sargent Shriver for his presentation of the Peace Corps' case. It is a good thing he did not take the short tour on the heels of a Public Relations man that some did. The senator would undoubtedly be amazed at how anything coherent could emerge from the chaos, unless he once worked on a college newspaper or performed a similar exercise in literary prestidigitation.

The President's order authorized the Corps to draw on funds available under the Mutual Security Act of 1954, and set it up as a semi-autonomous body in the Department of State. After an initial rush of excited inquiries and applications, both the mail and the publicity have settled down to something approaching normal, whatever that is. The decline in the news-making power of the Peace Corps, however, did not signify a decline in either enthusiasm or production.

In their own quiet desperation, Peace Corps employees have been working in two areas--the drafting of the bill that is known as S. 2000 in the Senate, and H.R. 7500 in the House, and the actual planning for Peace Corps projects. Both areas are currently in good shape.

In Congress, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee completed two days of hearings on the bill late last month, and after finishing its work on the foreign aid program will probably begin reviewing it the second week in July. House action has been slower, and the Foreign Affairs Committee has yet to schedule hearings.

Religious Ties

One issue that has aroused heated controversy here recently is the Peace Corps' entrance into contracts with religious organizations. Present plans indicate that much of the Corps' work will be done in cooperation with private groups sponsoring existing aid programs, and many of these have religious ties. The question is aggravated by the current debate in Congress over federal aid to private schools.

Peace Corps spokesmen are firm in denying any possibility of religious overtones entering a Peace Corps project. They say that before signing a contract with the Corps, any organization must foreswear proselytizing, and guarantee open recruitment of volunteers. A sponsoring group, therefore, is not only restricted from promoting its own religious doctrines, but must open its ranks to all applicants.

Shriver was questioned on the point by the Senate committee, and he repeated the same argument of open recruitment and foreswearment of proselytizing. The eventual outcome of the controversy will probably be decided by the committee, and if anything is done it will most likely be institution of a stronger ruling in the legislation.

In any case, nobody expects much trouble in the way of amendments or final passage. Legislative aides to Sen. Hubert Humphrey (D-Minn.) and Rep. Henry Reuss (D-Wisc.), co-sponsors of the bill in their respective Houses, and among the first legislators to propose the Peace Corps, have flatly predicted easy sailing when the bill reaches the floor. They each noted that certain clarifying amendments might be offered, but agreed that no legislator "could really vote against the Peace Corps."

People in the Peace Corps office itself were also enthusiastic, but warned of the possibility of an amendment that would take the Corps out of its semi-autonomous position in the State Department, and put it into the foreign aid program and ICA. The effect of such a move, many feel, would be to negate the spirit of personal aid and service that the original sponsors envisaged, and make the Corps just another propaganda weapon in the cold war.

Flexibility Allowed

The bill as it now stands (before amendment) is very general, in order to leave the program flexible and adaptable to any project or problem that might arise. Most of the power is invested in the President and the Director, and very little except basic outlines are in the bill.

The most important feature is the request for a $40 million appropriation, which would insure the autonomy of the Corps, and its operation for the new fiscal year. Congress will almost definitely grant the entire sum, since Sen. Humphrey noted when introducing the bill, "the figure is less than that needed for the firing of one intercontinenal missile at Cape Canaveral--even an unsuccessful firing."

Other sections of the bill deal with broad outlines for selection, training, and service, stipulations for pay, insurance, and future benefits under government plans, provisions for volunteer leaders, married couples, and foreign nationals to help with the training and selection of Corpsmen.

With the legislative situation well in hand, plans for more actual Peace Corps projects are in the works. Six have already been announced--to Tanganyika, Colombia, the Philippines, St. Lucia, Chile, and Ghana. The Ghana and Philippine projects call mainly for teachers; St. Lucia, Chile, and Colombia for agricultural experts and community developers; and Tanganyika for highly-skilled surveyors and geologists. Three of the projects--St. Lucia with Heifer, Inc., Chile with the Indiana Conference for higher education, and Colombia with CARE--will be run jointly by private organizations and the government. The Corpsmen bound for Colombia, Tanganyika, and Ghama are already in training at college campuses around the country; the Chile group will begin soon.

The Peace Corps office is preparing announcements of several other projects. As a result of the talks between Shriver and Prime Minister Nehru of India, a group specializing in agriculture will be sent there, while a number of African countries have requested contingents specializing in education.

When people here can be diverted from such problems as Berlin or Laos, school bills or foreign aid, and made to talk about the Peace Corps, the first reaction is one of caution. They are cautious because they know all too well both the immensity of the task the Peace Corps is undertaking, and the profusion of problems it will have to solve.

People are most anxious to talk about it at the Peace Corps office. Bill Moyers, a 28-year-old former Baptist minister, is Associate Director of Public Affairs. "We are under no illusions that this is a panacea. We aren't overly optimistic, and we don't think we're supermen," he said at the outset.

But just as the first reaction is caution, the second is hope. Many mention the spirit and idealism of the youth who have flooded the office with applications. Moyers thinks it goes beyond that. Speaking of his own office staff he said, "Nobody is here who didn't ask to be here. Adults haven't been given a chance to answer President Kennedy's challenge 'to do something for your country.' There is a great reservoir of energy and talent that needs to be channeled. Not only the youth want to be challenged."

Moyer's secretary is Nancy Gore, the 23-year-old daughter of Sen. Albert Gore (D.-Tenn.), a co-sponsor of the bill. Her words are familiar even though she has a Southern accent, to regular readers of President Kennedy's prose. Yet they retained their impact. "Amricans respond in difficult times by doing the impossible. If Communism had never been born there would still be the basic problems in the world that the Peace Corps is trying to comba. There is a greater war going on, and if this doesn't help I don't know what will."

The caution is justified. The Peace Corps has yet to send one single person abroad, and the first ones will not go until fall. Problems of training, housing selection and a hundred other things still have to be worked out--and most will sot be solved except by experience. The Corps is still operating under extcutive order, and has not even been sanctioned by Congress.

But the hope is justified too. The Peace Corps has challenged American youth as nothing before. Never has a program of international cooperation been brought down to a personal level a program in which an individual can make a contribution to furthering world peace with his hands and his heart, not just his pocketbook.

The problems are many, and the possibility of failure ever present. But if you wonder why so many people, not only in the Peace Corps office, or on college campuses, or on the Hill, but all over the world, have faith in the Peace Corps and its mission, look the eyes of the two little kids in the picture opposite the elevators.