“Today we are gathered to commemorate a unique occasion in American history—that occasion when for 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 ... But none has ever put its prestige and education, work, and service to others, performed by its own citizens volunteering for that service. The success of the Peace Corps is proof that moral vision coupled with perseverance and courage can overcome great obstacles.”
Our Quote of the Week highlights the unique nature of the Peace Corps, a citizen-led endeavor whose goal it is to promote “world peace and friendship” through community-based service in developing nations. We share these words in preparation for the 65th anniversary of the signing of the Peace Corps Act on September 22.
Sargent Shriver’s 1985 Address Celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the Peace Corps is one of several speeches from Shriver’s later years that shows his continued support for the Peace Corps and peacebuilding. Although he spends some time recounting the origins and history of the Peace Corps, he is very much rooted in the present and looking to the future. He asks the audience to focus on a new direction for the country, i.e., “Strength through Peace”. He highlights the importance of “seeking peace,” and stresses that it is time to move away from a militaristic approach to showing strength, to a broad demonstration of the ability to “wage peace":
“We have exponentially increased our power to kill. We must now increase our capacities—moral, intellectual, and political—to wage peace. First, therefore, we should increase the size of the Peace Corps overseas.”
During the period in which Sargent Shriver led the Peace Corps (1961 to 1966), it was his intention that the institution should be an instrument for service, collaboration, and problem-solving so powerful, that it could bring about stability and peace on a global scale. Note that in the speech, Shriver emphasizes the importance of service as a method of “waging peace":
“The Peace Corps’ nature was specifically designed to answer Kennedy’s challenge [to service]. Its nature was peaceful. Its nature was to call upon all Americans to serve—overseas for at least two years, and to serve at home for the rest of their lives. [...] We should support the idea of a universal opportunity for national service for all young people in our country. I do not mean, solely or primarily, military service. The military couldn’t use all our young people anyhow. I recommend, as I have many times before, that we call upon all young persons, and that we pay them a minimum sum, to serve their fellow citizens here at home. This service should be as normal as graduation from high school. It should be an accepted part of growing up in America—a common expectation of what’s expected from everyone.”
We can see the importance that Sargent Shriver places on service not only in his words, but also in the way that he designed programs, as it was a key component not just of the Peace Corps but also of the programs of the War on Poverty (Community Action, Head Start, VISTA, which is now part of AmeriCorps, Foster Grandparents, Legal Services, and others), whose creation and deployment he would lead beginning in 1964.
Since the early days of the Peace Corps, advancements in everything from transportation to communications have made us significantly more interconnected as a species. We can leverage our connections to make our human family much more unified and prosperous, or, as daily news stories remind us, we can use them to make ourselves more vulnerable to everything from pandemics to climate change to war. The bottom line is that human beings need each other for our very survival—and only by waging peace can we ensure our collective well-being.
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