Chapter 31: Disaster and Detente: The Cold War, Vietnam, and the Third World





The following activities accompany the Legacy for a People and a Nation on "The Peace Corps" in Chapter 31. Refer to page 915 of Norton, A People and a Nation, Sixth Edition for the complete text of this Legacy. There are three parts to this web page: Questions to Consider, Investigation, and Further Exploration.




Questions to Consider
1. Why are women disproportionately involved in the Peace Corps?

2. Has the Peace Corps mission changed since its outset? If so, how? Why?

3. What role did the Cold War have in the government decision to support the Peace Corps?

4. How would you answer critics who see our emissaries abroad, including Peace Corps volunteers, as primarily promoters of American culture at the expense of other cultures?

5. How do Peace Corps programs compare to private and church organizations abroad?


Investigation
Propose the Peace Corps budget for the next Fiscal Year. How will you justify the increase or decrease in spending? You will benefit from the information in a General Accounting Office report on the Peace Corps in Eastern Europe. This site includes a good evaluation of what has and has not worked well in the region. And, you will find budget information from 1989 to 1995. The budget for FY 1998 was $226M and FY 2000 is $244M. A site called Peace Corps Crossroads offers many links to other information on the Peace Corps. Check the link that offers several interesting arguments against joining the Peace Corps.




Further Exploration
1. Browse the official government site on the Peace Corps, with stories by volunteers organized by regions.

2. Organized by Action Without Borders, idealist.org identifies over 20,000 volunteer organizations working in 140 countries.

3. Read President Kennedy’s speech at the University of Michigan which led to the founding of the Peace Corps.

4. Howard J. Wiarda, professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and Foreign Policy Research Institute Fellow, evaluates the lines of ethnocentrism in our foreign aid and volunteer organizations.