Executive Order 10924: Peace Corps

Questions for Further Study

• 1. Eleven days before his inauguration, President Kennedy, in a speech to a Joint Convention of the General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, quoted John Winthrop's 1630 oration “A Modell of Christian Charity,” saying, “We must always consider … that we shall be as a city upon a hill—the eyes of all people are upon us.” To what extent does the Peace Corps' mission imply a notion of America as a morally superior and, therefore, globally responsible nation (that is, “a city upon a hill”)? Contrast the concept of “city upon a hill” to realpolitik (the idea that a government should pursue only the most practical means of satisfying national interest, regardless of what it considers morally right). How does the Peace Corps' mission embrace or renounce the tenets of each concept?
• 2. Presidents often use executive orders for crisis management. In what ways does Executive Order 10924 meet this condition? Because executive orders infringe on the legislative process, they can be controversial and must be used with caution. What steps did Kennedy take to assuage congressional misgivings and to make sure his bill would pass? What role should national crises and citizen sentiment play in determining the use of an executive order? For Executive Order 10924, did national needs justify the use of an executive order?
• 3. Imagine that you are Nicholas Hobbs, the first director of selection for the Peace Corps. You have been charged with creating the first-ever set of recruitment guidelines by which Peace Corps volunteers will be chosen. Do you target a group of individuals with technical and professional training or prioritize native intelligence and ingenuity? Considering the goals of the Peace Corps and the availability of prospective volunteers, describe the perfect Peace Corps.
• 4. Executive Order 10924 constitutes Kennedy's first step into America's New Frontier—a frontier full of “unsolved problems of peace and war … ignorance and prejudice … poverty and surplus.” Kennedy challenged America's youth to become the pioneers of this new political, economic, and geographic territory. These national images, though popular, failed to inspire America's minority population, specifically blacks and Native Americans. What may have caused this lack of enthusiasm? Think of new national images that would galvanize today's youth to tackle contemporary global issues, for example, environment, health care, and city crime.
• 5. Nixon, among others, criticized the Peace Corps for creating “a haven for draft dodgers.” Shriver's response was to offer young men draft deferment but not exemption. Should a peaceful national service such as the Peace Corps provide exemption or deferment from required military service? Should the United States require, as other nations do, a term of national service, peaceful or military, from all its citizens?