249 



Men and women should be allowed to serve ; 



Volunteers should have at least a high school education ; 



Optimum age would be 20 to 30 ; 



The length of service should be about 2 years ; 



A high level advisory board should be formed ; 



A small staff should be provided, but major support should come from ICA 

 or its successor agency ; 



A binational board, composed of United States and Peace Corps host country 

 nationals would be formed to set iwlicy, approve projects, provide staff, and 

 plan pilot programs ; 



The cost should run to about $50 million for 5,000 volunteers.*' 



The final report of the research group was not presented to the Con- 

 gress until June 5, 1961,^* well after the Peace Corps pilot project was 

 underway, after Mr. Shriver had completed his task force studies, and 

 after legislation had been introduced in the Congress. Two recom- 

 mendations not in the preliminary report were included in the pub- 

 ] ished version of the final study : (1 ) the program should start slowly 

 and on a small scale only : 



Interviews found a sul)stantial unanimity, among both U.S. nationals and host 

 country nations, concerning the policy that Peace Corps programs should be 

 initiated in the countries as pilot project.*, with limited numbers of participants. 

 There was caution to "start slowly and plan carefully." ^ 



(2) There should be an extensive program of in-house and external 

 research : 



All parts of the Peace Corps program must be studied carefully to ascertain 

 which parts would have research and evaluation built into them.'^ 



It is difficult to assess the precise impact of the Colorado study, or 

 even to identify this impact apart from that of the many other studies 

 conducted of the same subject at about the same time. Members of 

 Congress made reference to the existence of this research ; principal 

 officers of the interim Peace Corps, including the Director, had access 

 to its literature. Some of the findings and conclusions of the study were 

 apparently incorporated in official Peace Corps testimony, as well as 

 serving as an independent yardstick by which this testimony was 

 evaluated by the Congress. The Colorado project appears to have been 

 a conscientious and painstaking effort at opinion and data collection. 

 Its findings confirmed tliose of other study groups. Had this not been 

 the case, it is possible that a congressional consensus favoring Peace 

 Corps legislation might not have been achieved so readily. It is also 

 to be noted that the obtaining by the Congress of an explicit assess- 

 ment, by a group independent of the executive branch of the Govern- 

 ment, of a new concept of cross-cultural teclmological transfer marks a 

 different legislative aj^proach from that taken in the course of de- 

 velopment of Point IV legi-slation. 



^ Colorado State University Research Foundation. Preliminary report, "A Youth Corps 

 for Service Abroad," by Maurice L. Albertson. Pauline E. Birkv, and Andrew E. Rice, (Fort 

 Collins. Colo.. February 1961, revised March 1961), pp. 9-11, 13, 23. 



»» Congressional Quarterly Almanac, 1961 ( 1961 ) , p. 325. 



^The final report presented to the Congress was transmitted to that body by the Inter- 

 national Cooperation Administration : United States. International Cooperation Adminis- 

 tration. Peace Corps. Final report. A study by Colorado State Universitv Founda- 

 tion, Fort Collins, Colo., M. L. Albertson and A. E. Rice (The Administration, Washington 

 1961). It ha.s not been made available to the researcher. However, the authors of the study 

 later published their report, slightly revised, for the general public. This quote is taken from 

 that publication : Maurice L. Albertson, Andrew E. Rice, and Pauline E. Birky "New Fron- 

 tiers for American Youth, Perspective on the Peace Corps" (Washington, Public Affairs 

 Press. 1961), p. 3.5. 



38 Ibid., pp. 128-129, 142-143. 



