Peace Corps Pioneers

Peace Corps Pioneers. . , In 1961 President John F. Kennedy established the US Peace Corps, concept originally proposed by Minnesota Senator Hubert H. Humphrey. The Peace Corps was created from the President's call to "Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country." Among the first Peace Corps Volunteers answering the President's call in 1962 and completing their tours in 1964 were Plainview area residents: Kenneth Fliés serving in Brazil, Philip Mahle in Sierra Leone, Walter Mischke in Venezuela and Charles Rheingans in Thailand., "I was present at the creation, when the bright flame of conviction took hold in the imagination of the country and the Peace Corps became a promise fulfilled." - Journalist Bill Moyers, In 1962 there were some 25,000 incorporated cities and towns in America, many with populations in the tens of thousands versus Plainview with a population of only 1,400. The fact that four of these first Volunteers in 1962 came from this small rural town and area in America speaks to the uniqueness of the community's citizens, institutions and culture at that time in American history. By 2014, 215,000 Volunteers had served in more than 139 countries., "It [Peace Corps] has been an enduring American legacy of service in the cause of peace, a timeless symbol of some of America's most honorable ideals and aspirations." - Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of Service