251 



the Institute of Inteniatiuiiul Education, the Xational Student Asso- 

 ciation, and the Colorado State University Kesearch Foundation. It 

 acknowledged also a debt to consultations with Representative Reuss 

 and Senator Humphrey.''^ 



Two of Shrivers conclusions differed from the recommendations 

 set forth in previous supporting studies. While the "Peace Corps 

 should take its place as a basic component of our whole overseas 

 [foreign aid] program," it should be established as a semiautonomous 

 entity within the State Department as a "* * * new experiment in 

 international cooperation"' so that its staff must have ''great flexi- 

 bility to experiment with different methods of operations."" If it were 

 made a subdivision in the ICA the new program "would share the 

 public, political, and bureaucratic disabilities" of the older organiza- 

 tion. Continued the report — 



This is not to detract from the very real worth of ICA's present assistance 

 programs. But the idea of a Peace Corps has captured the imagination of a great 

 many people. Support for it cuts across party, regional, ethnic, and other lines. 

 The Peace Corps, therefore, offers an opportunity to add a new dimension to 

 our approach to the world — an opportunity for the American people to think 

 anew and start afresh in their participation in world development. That oppor- 

 tunity should not be jeopardized. Beginning the Peace Corps as another ICA 

 operation runs the risk of losing that new appeal." 



As to timing, he urged that the President establish the Peace Corps 

 as soon as possible and on a substantial scale : 



How and when should the Peace Corps be launched? The Peace Corps can 

 either begin in very low gear, with only "preparatory work" undertaken between 

 now and when Congress finally appropriates special funds for it, or it can be 

 launched now and in earnest by executive action, with sufficient funds made avail- 

 able from existing mutual security appropriations to permit a number of sub- 

 stantial projects to start this summer." 



IV. iNFORMATIOlSr ASSESSED BY THE CoNGRESS 



Immediately after the administration bill had been sent up and in- 

 troduced, the Peace Corps transmitted to the Congress a very detailed 

 67 page proposal for the fiscal year 1962.^^ Much information about the 

 temporaiT agency had gone earlier to the Congress, on March 21, 1961, 

 when the Senate Foreign Relations Committee held a hearing on the 

 nomination of Sargent Shriver to be director of the Peace Corps.'**^ Ad- 

 ditional hearings on the President's proposal were held by the House 

 Committee on Foreign Affairs in August, and the Senate Committee 

 on Foreign Relations in June.^' In addition, the Peace Corps staff 

 through its congressional liaison officer, William Moyers, and others, 



■"-"Report to the President on the Peace Corps From Sargent Shriver," op. cit.. p. 1. 



^3 Ibid, pp. 4, 10, 11, 12 ; and "Summary of the Next Steps From Sargent Shriver,' op. cit., 

 p. 1. 



** "Report to the President on the Peace Corps From Sargent Shriver," Ibid., p. 1.3. 



^ U.S. Peace Corps. Presentation of fiscal year 1962 program to U.S. Congress. May 29, 

 1961 (mimeo, 1961). 67 pages. 



*' U.S. Congress. Senate. Committee on Foreign Relations. Nomination of Robert Sargent 

 Shriver, Jr., to be Director of the Peace Corps. Hearings before the ♦ * • on the nomi- 

 nation of Robert Sargent Shriver. to be Director of the Peace Corps. Mar. 21, 1961, 87th 

 Cong., 1st sess. (Washington. U.S. Government Printing Office, 1961), 58 pages. 



*" U.S. Congress. House. Committee on Foreign Affairs. The Peace Corps. Hearings before 

 the * * * on H.R. 7500. A bill to provide for a Peace Corps to help the peoples of interested 

 countries and areas in meeting their needs for skilled manpower. Aug. 11 and 15, 1961. 

 87th Cong., 1st sess. (Washington, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1961), 1.32 pages; and 

 U.S. Congress. Senate. Committee on Foreign Relations. The Peace Corps. Hearings before 

 the * * * on S. 2000, A bill to provide for a Peace Corps to help the peoples of interested 

 countries and areas in meeting their needs for skilled manpower. June 22 and 23. 1961. 

 87th Cong., 1st sess. (Washington, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1961), 254 pages. 



