When the World Calls

by Stanley Meisler

  Otto Passman’s diatribe against the Peace Corps is in the Congressional Record, February 9, 1972. The memo about not doing as well as expected came from William Timmons to Ehrlichman, May 15, 1970, Box 33, Ehrlichman files. Haldeman’s report that Nixon wanted to decimate the Peace Corps came from H. R. Haldeman, The Haldeman Diaries: Inside the Nixon White House (New York: Putnam, 1994), p. 181.

  The account of the meeting in which Nixon told Blatchford to get more young men like himself is in a memo for the president’s file prepared by Richard V. Allen, September 11, 1969, Box 33, Ehrlichman files. Blatchford’s reports of what Nixon told him about the Peace Corps come from an interview with Blatchford on January 26, 2009, and a follow-up phone conversation on January 30, 2009.

  The budget battle with Passman is described in P. David Searles, The Peace Corps Experience: Challenge & Change, 1969–1976 (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1997), pp. 171–74, and in Hoffman, pp. 231–32.

  The disappointment over the removal of Vaughn and the appointment of Blatchford is described in Ashabranner, pp. 288–92. Nixon’s requirement that the new director have toughness is stated in a memo from Alexander Butterfield to Harry Flemming, March 26, 1970, Box 12, White House Central Files. Lew Butler’s rejection of the offer is reported in a note from Ehrlichman to Nixon, February 18, 1969, Box 33, Ehrlichman files. The Butler quote is from a January 27, 2009, e-mail.

  Blatchford’s New Directions are described by Searles, pp. 26–29. Blatchford’s quote about the cry for skilled Volunteers comes from his undated memo to the country directors of the Peace Corps, Box 33, Ehrlichman files. Kissinger’s comments on the new Blatchford approach come from his undated memo to Nixon, Box 33, Ehrlichman files.

  Blatchford’s memo to Alexander Haig on the recruitment of “skilled Americans of greater maturity” is dated January 7, 1970, Box 3, White House Central Files. Blatchford’s memo to the Republican House members is in Ashabranner, pp. 295–99. Ronald Tschetter’s quotes come from Nicholas Benequista, “World to Peace Corps: Skilled Volunteers Needed,” Christian Science Monitor, April 25, 2008.

  The request for Blatchford to look into the Micronesia problem came in a memo from Butterfield to Ehrlichman and was relayed to Blatchford on April 22, 1969, Box 33, Ehrlichman files. Blatchford’s lengthy reply came in a memo to Ehrlichman, April 25, 1969, Box 33. Kissinger’s reaction was relayed to Blatchford in an April 29, 1969, memo from Ehrlichman, Box 33. Blatchford’s unsolicited paper, “My Observations on the Need for a New Dynamic in U.S. Policy on Latin America,” was sent to Ehrlichman and Kissinger on September 9, 1969, also found in Box 33.

  Blatchford described the cutting of the budget and the creation of ACTION in a January 26, 2009, interview. Nixon’s admonition to put a tough guy in charge of the Peace Corps can be found in The Haldeman Diaries, p. 291.

  The Shriver quote about ACTION can be found in Hoffman, p. 240. She describes the creation of ACTION on p. 231. It is also covered in “Merger for VISTA Cleared in Senate,” New York Times, June 4, 1971.

  Chapter 10. The Fall of the Lion of Judah

  I have leaned heavily on Paulos Milkias, Haile Selassie, Western Education, and Political Revolution in Ethiopia (Youngstown, NY: Cambria Press, 2006), which describes in great detail the role of Western education in the revolution against the emperor.

  The statistics about tenant farmers comes from my article, “Ethiopia Land Reform Hits Peasants Hardest,” Los Angeles Times, August 29, 1968. The numbers of Americans in Ethiopia and the size of the Ethiopian military come from National Intelligence Estimate No. 75/76–70, dated May 21, 1970, and reprinted in Foreign Relations, 1969–1976, Vol. E-5, Documents on Africa, 1969–1972 (published by the Department of State’s Office of the Historian, 2005; available on www.history.state.gov).

  Harris Wofford’s quotes about Volunteers as Connecticut Yankees and about the radicalization of the Ethiopian Peace Corps come from an interview on March 5, 2009. The relationship between the emperor and the Volunteers is described by John Coyne on his blog www.peacecorpsworldwide.org/babbles; December 11, 2007. The Tegegne Yeteshawork quote comes from p. 1 of the Lipez-Meisler evaluation of Ethiopia in 1965.

  Lipez’s recollections about teaching in Ethiopia come from an e-mail message on February 8, 2009. The background on student unrest, the student quote about overthrowing His Majesty’s government, and the Volunteer quote about being Americans come from my article, “Haile Selassie Challenged by Student Unrest,” Los Angeles Times, June 1, 1969. I covered the Tilahan Gizaw killing and the bloody suppression of the student demonstrators in “Selassie Whip Has Subdued Student Revolt,” Los Angeles Times, February 22, 1970.

  Joseph Murphy’s resignation and the impact of the student rebellion on the Peace Corps are covered in my “Peace Corps Caught in Political Ferment,” Los Angeles Times, February 16, 1970. The reports of Volunteers Eleanor Shumway and Craig Johnson are quoted in the same article. The herding of students into concentration camps is described in my article, “Youths Held by Thousands in Ethiopia,” Los Angeles Times, August 1, 1971.

  The success of the student uprising, the fall of the emperor, the takeover of the revolution by the military, and the rise of Mengistu Haile Mariam are described by Milkias in detail, chapters 9–14. The quotation of Milkias concluding that the students, not the military, powered the revolution can be found on p. xix of the same book.

  The Peace Corps’s difficulties in Africa were described in my Los Angeles Times articles, “Political Woes Hinder Peace Corps in Africa,” June 30, 1969, and “Peace Corps Losing Ground with Africans,” May 3, 1970. More details on Gabon came from Larry O’Brien, former Peace Corps director in Gabon, in a phone call on March 16, 2009; on Tanzania from Ron Hert, “No Room for PC in Tanzania’s Policy of Self-Reliance,” the Volunteer, September 1969; on Libya from “Libya pulls the plug on ‘model’ program,” the Volunteer, December 1969. I covered the problems in Uganda in my article, “All Peace Corpsmen Pulling Out of Uganda,” Los Angeles Times, October 6, 1972.

  Chapter 11. The Militant Sam Brown

  David Broder’s description of Sam Brown comes from his book, Changing of the Guard: Power and Leadership in America (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1980), p. 140. The quote about euphoria over Brown’s appointment appears in Joseph Nocera, “Sam Brown and the Peace Corps: All Talk, No ACTION,” Washington Monthly, September 1978. Brown’s background, including his work on the antiwar moratorium and his appointment to head ACTION, is covered in Francine du Plessix Gray, “A Reporter at Large: The Moratorium and the New Mobe,” the New Yorker, January 3, 1970, and Terence Smith, “Peace Corps: Alive But Not So Well,” New York Times Magazine, December 26, 1977. Brown explained his shift from Eugene McCarthy to Jimmy Carter in an op-ed piece, “Against McCarthy,” New York Times, October 30, 1976.

  Brown’s views on changing the Peace Corps, including his quote about the Peace Corps as a remaining symbol of innocence, are described in Karen de Witt, “Peace Corps Ideas Get Badly Mired in Politics,” New York Times, May 6, 1979. The same topic is covered in Schwarz, pp. 179–87. Brown’s meeting in Tanzania is described in the Peace Corps publication, ACTION Update, March 1, 1978. Petty’s quotes come from Schwarz, p. 183. Carolyn Payton’s quote about Brown never looking at her directly comes from James M. Perry, “The Peace Corps Is Far from Peaceful under Sam Brown,” Wall Street Journal, January 16, 1979.

  The Jamaica Brigade incident is described in de Witt’s May 6, 1979, Times article; in Warren Brown, “Efforts to Change Peace Corps Image Have Gone Nowhere,” Washington Post, December 23, 1978 (which includes the quotes from Brown and Carter-Miller); and in the Perry article.

  I have put together the story of the brouhaha in Morocco from phone interviews with Ruth Saxe and Ellen Yaffe and from the Perry article. The resignation of Payton is covered in Warren Brown, “‘Political Activism’ Peace Corps Goal, Ex-Director Asserts,” Washington P
ost, December 8, 1978.

  The Richard Celeste quotes come from a phone interview on May 21, 2009. The presidential order giving the Peace Corps autonomy is described in “President’s Order Gives Peace Corps Autonomy within ACTION,” ACTION Update, June 18, 1979. The quotes of Vice President Walter Mondale come from “Celeste Sworn In as Peace Corps Director,” ACTION Update, July 12, 1979.

  Chapter 12. Mayhem and Illness

  Peace Corps Online (www.peacecorpsonline.org) lists all Peace Corps Volunteer fatalities by date, cause, and country. My account of the Bill Kinsey trial is based on Peace Corps files, obtained by John Coyne under the Freedom of Information Act. The most important document, which details all the evidence in the case and the verdict, is the text of the judgment of Judge H. G. Platt delivered in the High Court of Tanzania at Mwanza on September 19, 1966.

  The Paul Sack letter to the Volunteers, dated April 1, 1966, comes from the Peace Corps files. The annoyance by Tanzanian attorney-general Mark Bomani is described in an April 2, 1966, memo by the deputy director of the Peace Corps in Tanzania, and the Peace Corps’s pledge of non-interference is described in a letter from Sack to the Deputy General Counsel in Washington, July 4, 1966. The Volunteer quote to the AP appeared in Dennis Neeld, “Murder Trial Angers Peace Corps Volunteers,” Sunday Nation (Nairobi), May 13, 1966.

  The story of the Tonga murder case is reported in detail by Philip Weiss in his book American Taboo: A Murder in the Peace Corps (New York: Harper Perennial, 2005) and in his article, “Stalking Her Killer,” New York magazine, May 2, 2004. The quote from the psychiatrist’s testimony is on p. 259 of American Taboo, and the verdict and judge’s recommendation is on pp. 274–75. The letters of assurance that Dennis Priven would be confined to a psychiatric hospital are on pp. 278–79.

  The quote about the incidence of Peace Corps illness or death being comparable comes from “7 Peace Corpsmen die in 1969,” the Volunteer, January–February 1970. The General Accounting Office report is “Peace Corps: Initiatives for Addressing Safety and Security Challenges, Hold Promise, but Progress Should Be Assessed,” GAO-02–818, July 2002. The reply of Director Gaddi Vasquez is on pp. 47–53 of the report.

  The Dayton Daily News series ran from October 26 to November 1, 2003: The Brian Krow case is discussed in Russell Carollo and Mei-Ling Hapgood, “Mystery Deaths: Official Records Fail to Tell Complete Story,” October 29, 2003. The El Salvador gang rape case is discussed in Carollo and Hapgood, “Mission of Sacrifice: Peace Corps Volunteers Face Injury, Death in Foreign Lands,” October 26, 2003. The John Hale reaction to the series ran in the Daily News as “Easier to Believe Myth Than Face Need for Reform,” November 2, 2003. The reaction by Peggy Anderson was posted on www.peacecorpsonline.org on October 29, 2003. The Peace Corps statement on Russell Carollo of the Dayton Daily News is quoted on www.peacecorpsonline.org, on October 23, 2003.

  The total Volunteer deaths by year from 1990 to 2007 are listed in The Health of the Volunteer 2007 (Washington, D.C.: Peace Corps Office of Medical Services), p. 20. I compiled the totals for earlier years from Peace Corps Online: Volunteer Fatalities by Date. The rape statistics for 2007 are from The Safety of the Volunteer 2007 (Washington, D.C.: Peace Corps Office of Safety and Security), p. 7. The underreporting of rape is discussed on p. 4 of the The Safety of the Volunteer 2007 and the general feeling of safety is discussed on p. 45 of the same report. The statistics on incidence of illness come from The Health of the Volunteer 2007, pp. 7, 9, and 11–12. The total of medical evacuations to the United States comes from p. 25 of the same report.

  Chapter 13. The Rich Lady in Her First Job for Pay

  My profile of Loret Ruppe is based on the articles “Ruppe Nominated as Peace Corps Director” in ACTION Update, March 13, 1981; “Reagan Campaign Head To Be Peace Corps Head,” New York Times, February 15, 1981; Kathryn Tolbert, “Winner’s Way: Potomac’s Loret Ruppe Bones Up to Direct the Peace Corps,” Washington Post, March 26, 1981; a May 7, 2009, phone conversation with Deborah Harding, and a July 16, 2009, interview with Jody Olsen.

  The anecdotes about the “Peach Corps” and the White House liaison can be found in Honor Moore, “The Heiress Who Saved the Peace Corps,” New York Times, December 29, 1996. The comments about the budget being smaller than that of marching bands and filed under miscellaneous come from Loret Ruppe’s speech at the thirty-fifth-anniversary celebrations, March 1, 1996, Peace Corps Online (www.peacecorpsonline.org). The anecdote about her mother at Fort Benning comes from a phone interview with Carroll Bouchard on June 10, 2009.

  The quote about taking the Peace Corps out of politics comes from the anniversary speech. The Sykes letter is quoted in Francis X. Clines and Bernard Weinraub, “Briefing,” New York Times, December 5, 1981. The controversies over Tom Pauken and Edward Curran are detailed in Mark Huber, The Peace Corps: Out of Step with Reagan, a Heritage Foundation report, December 5, 1984. There is more on the Pauken case in Barbara Crossette, “Peace Corps Seeks a Review of Cuts,” New York Times, November 1, 1981, and Karen de Witt, “Peace Corps, Autonomy in Sight, Marking 20th Year,” New York Times, June 20, 1981. There is more on the Curran case in Howard Kurtz, “Peace Corps Director Taped Talk with Her Deputy Last Summer,” Washington Post, January 7, 1984, and in Mary Battiata, “The Curran Controversy: Reagan’s Choice for NEH Chief Faces Opposition from Moderates,” Washington Post, February 26, 1985.

  The indictment of Ruppe as a thorn in President Reagan’s side is on page 1 of the Heritage Foundation report. Ruppe told the story of President Reagan and the Fiji prime minister in her anniversary speech.

  The Kissinger Commission recommendation on the Peace Corps can be found in The Report of the President’s National Bipartisan Commission on Central America (New York: Macmillan, 1984), p. 84. Other significant findings about the need for both economic and military assistance to Central America and the importance of the Nicaraguan contras based in Honduras are on pp. 16–17, 48, 57, 63, 100–103, 114–15, 120–22, 125, and 138. A negative view of the report can be found in Arthur Schlesinger Jr., “Failings of the Kissinger Report,” New York Times, January 17, 1984.

  Schwarz devotes an extensive chapter to the Honduras buildup in Chapter 13 of her book, pp. 228–42. Ruppe’s presentation to the Kissinger commission is included on pages 229–30. The increases in economic and military assistance to Honduras are described in the Library of Congress country study of Honduras, found at www.memory.loc.gov. The comparative sizes of the Peace Corps programs in Honduras come from the various Peace Corps annual reports.

  Schwarz’s quote about the smile button is on p. 229 of her book. The Dionne and Geisler quotes come from “Peace Corps: Some Ex-Volunteers Uneasy over Central American Role,” New York Times, September 4, 1984. The Holcomb quote comes from Schwarz, p. 238. Bill Mabie’s story was recounted in an e-mail message on June 18, 2009. Carole Levin’s quotes come from her June 24, 2009, e-mail. Steve Lenzo related his story in a June 16, 2009, e-mail. Olsen’s quotes come from the July 16, 2009, interview.

  Chapter 14. 200,000 Stories

  The three memoirs reviewed in this chapter are Mike Tidwell, The Ponds of Kalambayi: An African Sojourn (New York: Lyons & Burford, 1990); Ellen Urbani Hiltebrand, When I Was Elena (Sag Harbor, NY: Permanent Press, 2006); and Barbara E. Joe, Triumph & Hope: Golden Years with the Peace Corps in Honduras (self-published, 2008).

  Chapter 15. A New Name and a New World

  Paul Coverdell’s quote about not hiding the name of the United States and Alan Cranston’s quotes about sending the wrong message come from Bill McAllister, “Peace Corps Flap: What’s in a Name?” Washington Post, April 27, 1990. Jody Olsen’s story of telling aides that Coverdell’s mind was made up about the name was related in an interview on July 16, 2009. David Lamb’s description of Coverdell came in an e-mail on August 4, 2009.

  President George H. W. Bush’s June 15, 1990, remarks to the Volunteers en route to Eastern
Europe come from the Bush Library and were reprinted by Peace Corps Online (www.peacecorpsonline.org). The former Soviet bloc countries receiving Volunteers by 1995 are listed in the Peace Corps Congressional Budget Presentation, FY 1997. The GAO analysis can be found in its report, GAO/NSIAD-95–6, Peace Corps: New Programs in Former Eastern Bloc Counties Should Be Strengthened (December 1994). Ellen Yaffe’s quote comes from an August 18, 2009, phone interview.

  The doubling of the program in Poland by Philadelphia industrialist Edward Piszek was described by Tim Carroll in a phone interview on September 15, 2009. The story was repeated in more detail in “The Peace Corps in Poland: They Came, Did Their Work, and Are Moving On,” in The World of English, April 18, 2003, reprinted at Peace Corps Online (www.peacecorpsonline.org).

  Carroll’s remark about standing in a line for a latrine in the Ukraine comes from an e-mail, August 23, 2009. The description of Meg Small’s business trips and the need for suits and business cards in the Ukraine was reported by James Rupert, “In E. Europe, the Peace Corps Means Business,” Washington Post, December 29, 1994. Claire St. Amant’s quote about the age of her colleagues in the Ukraine was published in her article, “Not Your Father’s Peace Corps,” Wall Street Journal, August 21, 2009. Amy Utzinger’s descriptions of Peace Corps life in Poland come from an e-mail on August 21, 2009. Mark Gearan’s quotes come from a telephone interview on October 6, 2009. Inspector-General Gerard Roy’s report was quoted by Joel Thurtell, “As Peace Corps Turns 30, Vets Fear Political Agenda,” Detroit Free Press, undated.

  Al Kamen’s article on Coverdell’s trips was published as “Director’s Domestic Trips Favor His Home Town,” Washington Post, January 2, 1991. Colman McCarthy’s quotes appeared in his column, “Playing Politics with the Peace Corps,” Washington Post, January 19, 1991. David Broder’s comments on Coverdell and the quote from Senator Snowe are in his column, “Sen. Coverdell: A Peacemaker Admired, Cherished,” Washington Post, July 30, 2000. Barbara Ferris’s plea against naming the Peace Corps building in honor of Coverdell came in a message to former Volunteers, carried at Peace Corps Online (www.peacecorpsonline.org), July 14, 2001. Senator Dodd’s plea to the Senate is in the Congressional Record for February 15, 2001, pp. S1530–32.