A complete and revealing history of the Peace Corps?in time for its fiftieth anniversary
On October 14, 1960, at an impromptu speech at the University of Michigan, John F. Kennedy presented an idea to a crowd of restless students for an organization that would rally American youth in service. Though the speech lasted barely three minutes, his germ of an idea morphed dramatically into Kennedy’s most enduring legacy ? the Peace Corps. From this offhand campaign remark, shaped speedily by President Kennedy’s brother-in-law, Sargent Shriver, in 1961, the organization ascended with remarkable excitement and publicity, attracting the attention of thousands of hopeful young Americans.
Not an institutional history, When the World Calls is the first complete and balanced look at the Peace Corps’s first fifty years. Revelatory and candid, Stanley Meisler’s engaging narrative exposes Washington infighting, presidential influence, and the Volunteers’ unique struggles abroad. Meisler deftly unpacks the complicated history with sharp analysis and memorable anecdotes, taking readers on a global trek starting with the historic first contingent of Volunteers to Ghana on August 30, 1961.
The Peace Corps has served as an American emblem for world peace and friendship, yet few realize that it has sometimes tilted its agenda to meet the demands of the White House. Tracing its history through the past nine presidential administrations, Meisler discloses, for instance, how Lyndon Johnson became furious when Volunteers opposed his invasion of the Dominican Republic; he reveals how Richard Nixon literally tried to destroy the Peace Corps, and how Ronald Reagan endeavored to make it an instrument of foreign policy in Central America. But somehow the ethos of the Peace Corps endured, largely due to the perseverance of the 200,000 Volunteers themselves, whose shared commitment to effect positive global change has been a constant in one of our most complex?and valued?institutions.
Introduction
Chapter 1 : The Challenge from JFK
Chapter 2 : Sarge's Peace Corps
Chapter 3 : The Pioneer Volunteers and The Postcard
Chapter 4 : The Battle of Britain
Chapter 5 : Friday, November 22, 1963
Chapter 6 : U.S. Troops Invade The Dominician Republic
Chapter 7 : Johnny Hood
Chapter 8 : The Specter of Vietnam
Chapter 9 : The Wrathe of Richard Nixon
Chapter 10 : The Fall of The Lion of Judah
Chapter 11 : The Militant Sam Brown
Chapter 12 : Mayhem and Illness
Chapter 13 : The Rich Lady in Her First Job for Pay
Chapter 14 : 200,000 Stories
Chapter 15 : A New Name and a New World
Chapter 16 : The Expansive Mood of The Clinton Years
Chapter 17 : The Quiet Bush Years
Chapter 18 : Diplomatic Troubles
Chapter 19 : Obama and The Future
Afterword : Does The Peace Corps Do Any Good?
Acknowledgments
Appendix
A None on Sources
Index
