Adventure of Understanding: Peace Corps Volunteers, 1980-1989

This video is a small part of my larger research surrounding the goals of the Peace Corps and the relationship that the organization had to United States Cold War foreign policy from the perspective of the volunteers. The source base for this research is almost entirely made up of interviews, both conducted by myself and sourced from the JFK Library, and each volunteer who features in my research served in the 1980s in either West Africa or nearby French speaking nations such as Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Essentially, the Peace Corps was founded, at least in part, with the intent to combat communism in the developing world, however for the volunteers it was never about that. For them, the Peace Corps was about the three goals outlined in the original act: to aid developing nations, to impart an understanding of America and Americans on the peoples of these nations, and to bring home an understanding of these peoples back to the United States. Most of the volunteers who I spoke to or whose interviews I listened to emphasized the latter two goals, as for many, the actual job they were performing was relatively unsuccessful or they felt as though it was unnecessary, however the cultural exchange aspect of the organization was important to all of them. Not only were there similar stories of overexaggerated American stereotypes in need of correcting, but every volunteer returned to the United States with a better understanding of the world and the many peoples who lived in it. Alongside the analysis of these goals, my research touches on both the reasons for volunteers joining the organization, as well as what they did afterwards to show the infiltration of the Peace Corps into American culture and its impact on the volunteers.

Hello, my name is Will Harris, and my thesis is Adventure of Understanding: Peace Corps Volunteers, 1980 to 1989*. The major goal of this research is to get a look at the goals of the Peace Corps from the perspective of the volunteers who served in it during the 1980s, and to ascertain the level to which the organization was connected to United States Cold War foreign policy.

The Peace Corps was founded in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy and was a major part of Kennedy’s promise to provide American aid to developing nations. In the initial act, there were three major goals: to provide aid to developing nations, to provide an understanding of America and Americans to the people of said nations, and to bring home an understanding of those people to the United States. From here on, these goals will be called Goal One, Goal Two, and Goal Three respectively.

These goals were not the only facet of the Peace Corps, at least initially. Early in the organization’s existence, there was certainly a connection between it and United States Cold War foreign policy. It was created under the Mutual Securities Act, which was intended to fight communism, and there was anti-communism training. Some volunteers I spoke to also remembered Kennedy speaking about the Peace Corps as a way to spread democracy and combat communism in developing nations. My research, however, is set in the 1980s, and in the twenty years since the Peace Corps had been founded, this connection had dissipated completely in the eyes of the volunteers. What remained important, however, were the three goals already stated.

To help you get an idea of the relative importance of these goals, let’s use my parents as an example, as it is their experience that provided the impetus for this research. Kate White and Bret Harris served in the Peace Corps in Niger in 1989 and were married just before joining the Peace Corps to ensure that they received the same assignment. Unfortunately, the pair were medically evacuated just three months into their service due to illness but would spend the better part of the next decade traveling to and working in various capacities around Africa and living there for a time. Growing up, I was surrounded by items that they had bought or been given while in Africa and was captivated by their stories of interesting people and events from that time.

White had travelled to Africa for the first time almost by accident while in Europe, and I’ll let her describe her feelings of it. “Taking a train ride and met a Moroccan person and we ended up in Morocco with his family, and it was the most amazing experience of my life. So that’s when I decided, ‘This is it.'” From then on, she was fascinated, and was intent on returning to the continent, first via Operation Crossroads, and then with the Peace Corps. This love of Africa would end up being her reason for joining the Peace Corps, and when I asked her about Kennedy and the idea of serving one’s country, here’s what she had to say: “I don’t remember my country ever entering into my mind about it. I just remember being like ‘this is amazing, being in Africa and doing other things with my life and being exposed to other cultures.”

Let’s transition to discussing the three goals of the Peace Corps. For many volunteers, Goal One, or the actual jobs that they were given, were not very important. A good example of this is what you’re seeing now. These stoves were what my father was tasked with helping the people of his village learn how to create, and according to him, it never really went anywhere. He compared much of the work that the Peace Corps did to the wells the French left behind, that you’re now seeing. These wells fell into near immediate disrepair after the departure of the French, as upkeeping them was next to impossible, and they weren’t absolutely necessary.

While Goal One fell flat somewhat, Goals Two and Three were wildly successful, and the volunteers felt as though they were really there to be cultural ambassadors for America. This position was twofold, as the volunteers’ first job was to give the local people experience with real Americans, as most of what they knew came from American television. “You were there to present to them: ‘No, that really is not America, that’s just Hollywood’s version of what entertainment is.’ So, I think on that respect we were sort of a tempering influence on some of the other cultural influences that came in through TV.” The second part of this job was to leave with a sense of the importance of other cultures. This cultural exchange was the backbone of the Peace Corps experience, and not once did anyone I talk to confirm that they felt as though their service was connected to the ideological battle of the time. Goal Three manifested itself in the volunteers’ later lives. In my parents case, this meant having a life in Africa, working for other US aid programs, and feeling extremely connected to the continent.

In conclusion, the purpose of the Peace Corps, at least for my parents, can be boiled down into the combination of Goals Two and Three. Here is what my father had to say: “Quickly we learned that whatever they were training us for was kind of a joke, because people there didn’t really need our knowledge about these things. They were eager to learn, eager to be a part of it but realistically the impact that we made as Peace Corps volunteers was very, very small. But I think that we did get the sense that we were there as young people from American to experience a different place and to spread our experience of our country.” I think that sums it up pretty well. One final thing, every photo you’ve seen here was taken by my father while he was in Niger, and thank you for watching.