Speeches & Texts
50th Anniversary of the Founding of the U.S. Peace Corps
Berlin (U.S. Embassy), March 1, 2011
Ambassador Philip D. Murphy
Welcome to this 50th birthday party of the Peace Corps. The Peace Corps was officially established on March 1, 1961 by President John F. Kennedy. How many of you had heard about the Peace Corps – before you got this invitation? A few years ago, one of America’s most famous journalists was on a talk show and said that America used to have a Peace Corps. Apparently she didn’t know that American still had a Peace Corps. She was corrected immediately and turned red with embarrassment. So if you do not know much about the Peace Corps, don’t feel too bad.
The main thing is that you are here today. We are going to talk a little about the history of the Peace Corps. But we are going to talk more about the idea behind the Peace Corps, how that idea inspired young people fifty years ago, how it can inspire people today.
I am going to start off with some history.
And I promise to keep it short and not to speak for too long. It was in just such a long short speech, that the then Senator John F. Kennedy launched the idea of a new experiment in public service. It was during the election campaign of 1960. After a long day on the campaign trail, Senator Kennedy arrived at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor late at night. The reporters who were following his campaign went off to bed and Senator Kennedy probably wanted to do the same. But 10,000 students were waiting for him – possibly one of the first flash mobs. And so Senator Kennedy agreed to say a few words. In that short speech, he made one of the most important campaign promises – a campaign promise kept – in modern American history.
Within six weeks of being inaugurated as President, JFK, as Americans often refer to President John F. Kennedy, our 35th President, issued an executive order founding the Peace Corps. On March 1, 1961, fifty years ago today, he made official the challenge he had posed to those 10,000 students waiting for him at the University of Michigan – the challenge to further the cause of peace by living and working in developing countries. We have some former Peace Corps volunteers with us this afternoon, two who are now diplomats here at the Embassy; and also Carol Bellamy, a returned volunteer who went on to become head of the Peace Corps under President Clinton. We also have with us one of President Obama’s top diplomats, Farah Pandith, who, among other things, advises the White House and the State Department on public service projects with and for young people.
I know that both Frau Bellamy and Frau Pandith are very interested in hearing about some of the projects you are all involved in.
I think there is one common thread that ties together the goals of the Peace Corps, the goals of the Freudenberg Stiftung’s “Lernen durch Engagement” initiative and the goals of some projects that we have started here at the Embassy. The Peace Corps was and is about something even more fundamental than Third World development. It is about cultivating a more informed and understanding world view not just of foreign countries but of our own countries - indeed, of our neighbors just down the street.
I apologize if my short speech has indeed turned out to be too long but nevertheless, I have one more anecdote from history that I would like to tell. As I said, soon after the election in 1960, President Kennedy started the Peace Corps. He asked his brother-in-law, a man named Sargent Shriver, to head the new organization. Sargent Shriver said later that he was chosen because everyone was sure the Peace Corps would be a disaster, and it would be easier for the President to fire his brother-in-law than anybody else. Well, the President did not have to fire him and, as we can testify 50 years later, the Peace Corps is alive and well – despite what that ignorant journalist said a few years ago. And Sargent Shriver, who just recently passed away, will remain an American hero for his total commitment to public service.
I would like to close – and this really is the end – with some words of advice Sargent Shriver gave to students many years after the Peace Corps was established. He spoke at the graduation ceremony of Yale University where he had studied. And this is what he told the Class of 1994 –and his advice is still relevant. He told the students to break all their mirrors, to “shatter the glass.” Because as he said, and I quote, “In our society that is so self-absorbed, begin to look less at yourself and more at each other. Learn more about the face of your neighbor, and less about your own.'' And although I know he was not talking about Facebook, I also know there are ways to use social media to do good. Let me know about the good things you are doing via my Facebook page. I am eager and interested to learn more about your activities.
Thank you all for your commitment and your initiative. And thank you all for coming.
As prepared for delivery.