Stacey McKellar, age 13, of Middletown, Ohio, for her question:
WHEN DID THE PEACE CORPS START?
The Peace Corps is an organization of Americans who work to raise living standards of people in developing nations. The Congress of the United States created the Peace Corps in 1961 as a government agency. In 1971, the Peace Corps became part of ACTION, a new agency that combined several volunteer programs.
Volunteers to the Peace Corps serve in Africa, Asia, Latin America and on various islands of the Pacific. They go wherever the host country needs them and live and work side by side with citizens of the country.
Members of the Peace Corps are called volunteers and they work within local institutions, instead of setting up new agencies. The most important part of a volunteer's work consists of training local people to do the job he or she is doing.
The Peace Corps often cooperates with volunteer organizations of other countries and of the United Nations. In addition, the corps works with various private organizations in the United States. Some of these organizations have had long experience overseas.
To qualify for service in the Peace Corps, a person must be a United States citizen and at least 18 years old. The corps has no upper age limit nor does it require that applicants have any college training, except for its teaching projects.
Volunteers who are picked for a project spend from 8 to 12 weeks in training. They may train at a Peace Corps training center, but most of them train in the host country. For 10 to 12 pours a day, six days a week, trainees study the language, history and culture of the country in which they will serve.
Corpsmen receive allowances for living costs, transportation and incidental expenses. After they return to the United States, they receive a lump sum payment of a nominal amount for each month of their accumulated service.
Although the Peace Corps was established under President John F. Kennedy in 1961, the idea for such an organization was more than 50 years old. An American philosopher named William James first suggested the idea in 1904.
During the years following World War II, many private groups set up international work camps. Others seat young Americans to share skills with students, farmers and workers in other lands.
In January 1960, Congressman Henry Reuss of Wisconsin and Senator Richard Neuberger of Oregon asked Congress to study the possibilities of a youth corps program. Later that year, Senator Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota asked Congress to create a peace corps. Kennedy then used the proposal as a campaign issue in the 1960 presidential election.
On March 1, 1961, President Kennedy set up the Peace Corps. Later that year, Congress made the agency permanent.
Peace Corps volunteers have served in more than 60 countries.
Agencies similar to the Peace Corps have been set up by many foreign countries.