Peace Corps Turns 50 Years Old
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - The Peace Corps was established 50 years ago today by executive order, then approved by Congress about six months later.
The Peace Corps as an international technical and cultural exchange hasn't lived up to its founders' hopes, said LaSalle Communication Professor Br. Gerry Molyneaux, "(John F.) Kennedy and (R. Sargent) Shriver, when they started it, they were hoping for Peace Corps of at least 100,000 and the Peace Corps now is in the area of 7-or-8 thousand."
Br. Molyneaux, who has studied the Corps extensively, says it got a record budget this year of $400 million. "The budget for the Peace Corps is less than the budget for military bands."
Br. Molyneaux says no other agency does this kind of long-term work, maybe too long term for volunteers."There are some people that think it ought to be reconfigured, maybe make it less than two years, maybe offer some monetary or some other kind of reward for doing it."
He says the Corps has been very low key, to its disadvantage in his view.
Reported by John Ostapkovich, KYW Newsradio 1060
