Introduction by Harris Wofford, Former Associate Director of the Peace Corps
Almost 40 years ago, the Protestant Council in our country issued a statement entitled, “Celebrating the Voice of Peace”. That Protestant Council stated that: “The labor of peace is an undertaking for every nation, large and small, for every member of the Family of Man! To this goal none can be uncommitted. If the Family of Man cannot achieve greater unity and harmony now, the very planet which serves as its home may find its own future in peril!”
Never has that statement been more true than today and never has its fulfillment been more distant and unlikely!!
Take our own country as an example of the danger threatening the Family of Man.
Our military power has never been so great, and we seem determined to increase it! Our financial power is likewise immense and unequaled. Our political power also transcends all other nations, just as our scientific and intellectual powers do. Of all peoples, and of all nations on Earth, we are by far the most powerful!
We today stand astride the entire world immeasurably greater than the “Colossus of Rhodes” in 280 B.C. That statue became known as one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Maybe today our country, the USA can be described accurately as one the Seven Wonders of the Modern World!
And maybe like Rhodes and its Colossus, we are destined not to achieve unity and harmony for the entire world. Why not? Because we, like the citizens of Rhodes, think we stand astride the world because of our unrivaled powers, military, financial, political, scientific, and intellectual powers! But, believe or not, power alone did not save Rhodes from destruction. And neither will power alone guard the USA from potential destruction.
On the other hand, The Peace Corps, one of our country’s most successful and world-wide creations, remains today almost the smallest of our worldwide initiatives. In 1965, ’66 and ’67, the Peace Corps had 14,250 volunteers serving overseas. But Nixon, who fought against the Peace Corps from its inception, quickly cut the Peace Corps to 6,500. Then Reagan zero budgeted the Peace Corps, as he enlarged the military in all of its branches. Reagan never succeeded in his desire to terminate the Peace Corps entirely. Congress stopped him! But: even with President Clinton’s approval and encouragement, the Peace Corps has only grown to 7,200 and only hopes to grow to 10,000 volunteers by 2003!
Our military budget now totals approximately $281 billion dollars per annum. The Peace Corps budget is less the $275 million per annum. Our military is thus considered to be 90 per cent more important for the future than our forces of peace. Thus, domination of, not cooperation with, the world seems more important to us today than “the labor of and for peace”.
These depressing, even discouraging, facts explain, in part, why I am so pleased to be speaking to you today on “John F. Kennedy and The Call to Service”. All of us in America, especially Members of Congress, need to have our ears, eyes, hearts, and the voices of our individual consciences awakened to the opportunities lying right in front of us. All of us in the USA now have an unprecedented opportunity to lead the world into a new century, free of the low-level, selfish, ignorant, narrow-minded, out-of-date objectives of the 20th Century!
Let us face the facts and opportunities of the 21st Century!
Let us free ourselves of the worries and fears of the 20th Century. Let us create a `New World’ worthy of the men and women of our country who created the “The New World” of the USA back in the decade of 1781 to 1791!
They had vision and courage to pledge “their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor” to the creation of a new Nation and a New World.” The 21st Century offers us an identical opportunity today!
We started to do so with the inauguration of the Peace Corps in 1961. The first national, governmental initiative dedicated solely to the creation of power for peace, not military power, no, not military power at all! The Peace Corps called upon volunteers to work 24 hours a day in foreign countries, working for world peace.
These volunteers would receive only enough money to buy themselves food and to pay the rent for a small place right in the midst of the poorest part of the towns or cities where they were sent to perform their duties. The money given to them individually to pay for their day to day food, drink, and shelter, never exceeded $20.00 per week. The money allocated to them for their personal service abroad was given to them only after they had completed 2 years of work.
Even to this day in 2001, I believe Peace Corps volunteers receive nothing more in money for their service overseas, than funds sufficient for them to live exactly like the people they serve.
All men and women who volunteer to serve as Peace Corps volunteers went through 2 to 3 months of rigorous training before they went abroad. Their qualification for service received approval from the country to which they were being sent, and their assignments within that country were selected by us, but also the host countries involved.
Nothing like this procedure had ever been establish by this country and volunteers and approved by the host countries.
Some of our volunteers were not able to live up to and abide by these living conditions and minimum financial payments. So some of those volunteers quit. They came home discouraged or disgusted, but their numbers were so few and their experience so depressing to them, that they never protested the treatment given to them or the service demanded of them.
At least 90% of all the volunteers trained for service overseas stayed on the job. Some of them even elected to continue their work overseas for a 3rd, year, but we at the Peace Corps Headquarters decided that after the 3rd year, they should come home to reassess and talk with others about what they had done, what their experience had been! Many went to work at Peace Corps Headquarters, many became boosters for the Peace Corps, many formed little organizations of their own so as never to forget what they had done, where they had done it and the results they had achieved and many of those organizations exist even today. The spirit of these Peace Corp volunteers, their loyalty to our country, their dedication to the people with whom they lived abroad, and their interest in all aspects the country where they lived, continues even to this day. They have become, truthfully, citizens of the world!
Nothing better illustrates that reality than the following historic episode. On June 8, 1962, I received a letter at the Peace Corps Headquarters from Elizabeth and Leonard Crozier, who son, David, was the first Peace Corps volunteer to die overseas.
The Croziers quoted from a letter they had received from their son. “Should it come to it, I had rather give my life trying to help someone than to give my life looking down a gun barrel at them.”
The Croziers then added: “We are not sorry he (David) went to Columbia” where he died!
I truly hope that one day in this new 21 St Century, all of us Americans will think and act like the volunteers and their parents and friends who have made the Peace Corps unique, courageous, and emblematic of our nation’s best thoughts and actions.
Text of Sargent Shriver’s Video Message Accepting the Distinguished American AwardIt is a deep honor and a humbling experience to address such an esteemed and heroic audience tonight/today. I am sorry that I cannot be with you, so I am glad that the Library has arranged for this video message.
First of all, I want to thank the John F. Kennedy Library and Foundation for this honor. I am humbled to be recognized in the company of the men and women who have played such visionary leadership roles in the public affairs of our country.
As the United Nations and the world celebrates the International Year of the Volunteer, we celebrate tonight the true spirit of service and humanity.
In his legendary inaugural speech, President John F. Kennedy created a modem blueprint for service and initiated new thinking that has had lasting impact on our world. On January 20, 1961, a dream was born that grabbed hold, took root, and grew far greater, far stronger and far more reaching than even conceived.
Forty years ago, Kennedy called upon us to give our lives to service and the Peace Corps became the instrument of his policy. This groundbreaking initiative marked the first time an American President proposed to put the full strength of our Government behind a voluntary movement of free men and women dedicated to the pursuit of peace. Many nations in human history have undertaken many tasks; many have boasted about their economic power and military victories. But none has ever put its prestige and money into so sustained an effort as the Peace Corps to seek peace through education, work, and service to others, performed by its own citizens volunteering for that service. The miraculous success of the Peace Corps is proof that moral vision coupled with perseverance and courage can overcome great obstacles.
President Kennedy also had great impact on one of the most lasting Kennedy legacies: the plight of people with mental retardation. Through the relentless campaign of my beautiful wife, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, massive changes began under the Kennedy administration, which have had far reaching effects. I am in awe of their deep commitment to the dignity, respect and quality of life for society’s powerless.
I am privileged to serve as the Chairman of an organization that my wife began in our backyard in 1963. Today this global movement is 160 countries strong. Special Olympics provides year-round sports training and competition for more than a million individuals with mental retardation, holding more than 16,000 sporting competition events in a single year.
As we speak, athletes are training for the marathon in [city, country]; the Special Olympics Middle East - North Africa Regional office is preparing to open in Cairo, Egypt; and an athlete Global Messenger is delivering a speech about athlete empowerment in Beijing, China. [need to update these examples].
Now those who were once rejected by society are leading a movement of hope and opportunity for future generations. In addition, athletes’ families are strengthened and the community at large, both through participation and observation, accepts and welcomes people with mental retardation in an environment of equality and respect. This came about, yes, because the leadership of certain individuals, but more importantly, because of the generosity and volunteer support of many hands from many different walks of life.
President Kennedy’s haunting words still call to us, issuing the challenge for us to all become distinguished Americans. Distinguished in service, in understanding, integrity and compassion.
That is the brilliance of a great dream. JFK’s vision of a better world and of a peace-filled existence continues to drive us and inspire each one of us, generation after generation.
You see, though you are recognizing me for service, I am the lucky one because I have the opportunity to serve. Lucky because the work we celebrate is that of spirit, heart and humanity. Be it the Peace Corps, Special Olympics or Head Start, the common denominator is a certain goodness, rich in possibility and devoid of hopelessness. By answering the call to service, we are ALL lifted to a higher level.
In closing, I urge you today to answer that great call 40 years ago. Dare to actively imagine a better world; fuel it with your passion; foster it with your time, your gifts and your care. This force of change will inspire our youth to get involved in public service; help our service organizations to expand and supersede limitations; and cause us all to reach beyond our own perspectives to realize Kennedy’s vision of “world peace and human progress.”
Thank you.
