MEDFORD MAIL TRIBUNE. MEDFORD, OREGON
THURSDAY. JUNE 21. 1961
A 3
it
Peace Corps Grows in Size, Prestige During First Twelve Months
Editot'i Note: A v.nr .an
Shis month lht Peace Corps
launched its program of
ending iti program to under-developed
countries In
the 12 months that have
passed, the corps has grown
both in site and prestige.
The. following dispatch,
traces the corps develop
ment and explains how the
volunteers are being selected.
By EDWARD COWAN
Washington - il'Pli - This, a
remarkable year later, U the
Peace Corps:
-Road builders in Tanea-
nyika, want-ads for basketball
coaches and midwives.
-A marriage in Ghana and
two tragic deaths in Colom
bia. Margery Michclmore and
Mrs. Janie Fletcher. And the
ultimate accolade from the
Communist world - a denun
ciation by Nikita Khrushchev.
-Volunteers in 16 countries;
some 1,100 corpsmen now
working or in training. An
additional 4,000 going into
training this summer.
It was just a year ago this
month that the corps, an ex
periment in grass roots, peo
ple-to-people assistance, ac
cepted its first volunteers.
These were 35 young men
who now are on duty in the
newly independent African
nation of Tanganyika.
In the 12 months that have
passed since that milestone,
the corps has grown both in
size and prestige. Overcoming
initial skepticism, it has now
reached the point where Khru
shchev has denounced it as an
"imperialist" organization.
Survives Uproar
The corps' African contin
gent survived the uproar
caused by Margery Michel
mores "lost" postcard. And
its Washington contingent
avoided getting in a tangle
with Congress over the case of
Mrs. Janie Fletcher of Pan
handle. Tex.
It was Mrs. Fletcher who
complained that - as a 65-year-old-she
was dropped as
a corps recruit because she re
fused to run a mile before
breakfast, swim fully clothed
with her feet tied, or cover
the full obstacle course.
Throughout the world men
and women - some old, some
young - have been exposed to
primitive living conditions
rl - v y
GETS BADGE - Pvt.. Steven D. Miller, 1!), son of the late
bandleader. Glen Miller, has a rifle expert badge pinned on
by Sgt. Patrick J. Morocco, his platoon commander, at San
Diego, Calif. Miller graduated from the Marine Corps Re
cruit Depot and will take advanced training at Camp Pendle
ton. (UPD
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and awkward environments. I needs to be done in rural
Two have died - Lawrence I South America."
M. Radley, 22, of Chicago, and i in scarchlng for people with
David L. Crozier, 23, of West j ,ile SKius specified by the
Plains. Mo. They were killed, countries asking for corps
in a plane crash in the Co-meni Kelly and his staff must
lombian mountains while en ! keep a sharp eye out for other
route back to their assign- considerations which might
ments in small villages. disqualify a volunteer regard
First Marriage i less of his talents.
There has been the first j
marriage in the corps' young
history - that of Roaer Ham
ilton, a 21-year-old from
Arlington, Va., and Carol
Armstrong, 24. of Bala-1
Cynwyd, Pa. Having first met i
while training for their as
signment, they became man
and wife in Ghana, 'where
both are teachers.
A list of countries to which
the corps is sending volun
teers reads like a catalogue of
exotic places. Volunteers al-'
ready are at work in Ghana, i
Nigeria, Sierra Leone. Tan-'
ganyika. Colombia, Chile, St. i
Lucia, the Philippines, India,
Pakistan, Thailand, Brazil, El I
Salvador, Venezuela, Jamaica I
and Malaya. i
Volunteers are soon to be
dispatched to Iran, Equador,
Peru, the Dominican Repub-I
lie, Bolivia, Ceylon, Tunisia,
Somalia, Afghanistan, British,
Honduras, Cyprus, Ethiopia,!
Nepal, Niger, Senegal, Togo,
Turkey, the Canieroons, and
the Ivory Coast. I
Since its inception the corps
has been run by R. Sargent
Shriver, President Kennedy's
brother-in-law. In an inter-1
view, he said the corps is get
ting better men and women
than he dared hope when he
first sr.l to work early in 1061
after Kennedys inaugural.
By n.xt September, Shriver
said, the corps hopes to have
5,000 volunteers in training or
on the job overseas. By one
year later the total should be
about 10,000.
.Biggest Problem
According to corps officials.
the biggest problem is getting ;
enough volunteers with the i
right kinds of skills. Needed
are 350 combinations of the
right skills for the right coun
try. Examples: mechanics and
metal workers for Peru; gym
teachers for Thailand; a cost
accountant for Malaya, and
architects for Peru.
The corps' personnel selec
tion specialists must take into
account such diverse consider
ations as when the volunteer
will be available, his age, his
specific skills, his foreign
language ability, the country
or continent he prefers, and
other projects for which he
qualifies.
Now on hand are 10,000 ap
plications. Manual sifting of
these would be an endless, un
certain task. To cull the vol
unteers rapidly and effective
ly, the corps has turned to
modern electronics to help it
find someone who might end
up working in conditions as
primitive as the ages.
To do this, the corps is
using a high-speed computer
which reads a "language" call-1
ed Fortran - a computer jar-;
gon understood by the whir-1
ring computer brain and a few
experts who instruct it and
study the lines and columns
of data it prints. ;
Racing through thousands
of yes -no questions and an
swers, the computer stacks
each application up against
the particular combination of
skill vs. country that the
corps is trying to fill. Each
application gets a numerical
score for each job.
These scores are printed on
a large matrix, a sheet of pa
per which is about a yard
wide. Each vertical column is
a job; each horizontal line an
applicant.
Reading across, a technician
such as petite Gail Switzcrl
; can see those jobs for which
j an applicant is well qualified,
I those for which his qualifica
tions are so-so, and those for,
' which he won't do at all.
I Data Translated
The computer can score the
t applicants because it has been
told some 300 items of infor
mation about each. This data
has been translated into For
tran for the computer by a
group of experts headed by ;
Charles Consolvo. a 23-year-old
airman on loan to the
Peace Corps from the Air
Force.
Consolvo and Miss Switzer
work for Dr. E. Lowell Kelly,
chief of the corps' selection
division. A 56-year-old expert
on selection procedures, Kelly
is on leave froom his post as
chairman of the Psychology
department at the University
of Michigan.
Although proud of the mod
ern, high-speed techniques
that his staff uses, Kelly took
pains in an interview to em
phasize that the final selection
is far from a straight mechan
ical process. As he said, "Who
is suitable to be a Peace
Corps volunteer is a judgment
made by human beings who
are professional qualified peo
ple .''
Kelly keeps a special eye
out for applicants with a rural
background and farm skills.
A bov who knows Spanish
and crop rotation would be
more valuable to the corps
than a triple threat halfback
would be to a football team.
In Shrivcr's words. "Every
thing done in rural America
A few applications have
come from people "trying to
get away" - from creditors,
a nagging wife or some other
personal problem. Automatic
ally rejected are persons lack
ing U. S. citizenship, those
with dependents under 18,
and applicants themselves un
der IS.
The corps is not interested
in what it calls "non-function-1"
characteristics - political
affiliation, color, religion and
national origin.
Each applicant Is required
to submit at least six character
references. These references
are sent a confidential ques-
tionaire which asks about the
applicant's job competence,
emotional maturity, ability to
work with others, special
skills and character.
In an introductory message
on the questionaire, Shriver
appeals for "a candid expres
sion of opinion" and offers
this assurance:
"No candidate will be elinv
inated on the basis of a single
negative rating."
Kelly, as selection director,
has found that "people do a
surprisingly thorough job."
Applicants usually give the
names of people they think
will give them a good refer
ence. But one young man, who
was under 21 and needed par
ental consent, was crossed up
by his own father.
The father, who apparently
didn't disapprove of his son
nearly as much as he did of
his joining the Peace Corps,
wrote that his boy was a "lazy
no good."
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