1981.06.20: June 20, 1981: Headlines: Directors - Ruppe: Figures: Directors: New York Times: Peace Corps celebrates 20th aniversary with new autonomy in sight
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1981.06.20: June 20, 1981: Headlines: Directors - Ruppe: Figures: Directors: New York Times: Peace Corps celebrates 20th aniversary with new autonomy in sight
Peace Corps celebrates 20th aniversary with new autonomy in sight
Loret Miller Ruppe was Director of the Peace Corps from 1981 to 1989.
Peace Corps celebrates 20th aniversary with new autonomy in sight
PEACE CORPS, AUTONOMY IN SIGHT, MARKING 20TH YEAR
By KAREN DE WITT, SPECIAL TO THE NEW YORK TIMES
Published: June 20, 1981
The Peace Corps began celebrating its 20th anniversary at a conference here today, an event enhanced for many of the 2,000 participants by this week's Senate approval of legislation to make the agency independent once again.
The Peace Corps lost its separate status in 1971 under the Nixon Administration when it was made part of Action, an umbrella agency that includes the Foster Grandparent Program, Volunteers in Service to America and the National Center for Service Learning.
Under the Carter Administration the Peace Corps regained some of its autonomy, but supporters of the agency continued to feel that under Action it suffered from a lack of visibility and identity.
Wednesday's move to restore the corps' independent status was precipitated by the Reagan Administration's appointment in March of Thomas W. Pauken to be director of Action. Mr. Pauken served as a military intelligence officer in the Vietnam war. The Peace Corps has a prohibition against having former intelligence agents serve in the agency. Fears Over Credibility
An aide to Senator Alan Cranston of California, who led Democrats in drafting the legislation that would make the Peace Corps independent again, said there was considerable sentiment that the agency could not operate with the necessary credibility and independence from the Government if it were organizationally under the direction of Mr. Pauken.
Wednesday's action came up as part of the State Department reauthorization and was a defeat for Senate Republicans, who failed in a 45-to-52 vote to table the move to make the Peace Corps autonomous. The motion was then passed by voice vote. A similar motion has been approved by the House Foreign Affairs Committee but has not yet reached the House floor.
Earlier this week, Loret M. Ruppe, director of the Peace Corps, said in an interview that there was no need for the agency to be more independent than it already was under Action. As a result of a Carter Administration executive order, the agency became autonomous within Action, with its director reporting directly to the President. Mrs. Ruppe, appointed to head the agency by President Reagan in February, reports through the office of Edwin Meese 3d, counselor to the President. Shunning Intelligence Work
At the opening of the conference today, Mrs. Ruppe drew sustained applause from the audience of former volunteers when she said that she was committed to a strict policy of keeping the agency out of United States intelligence work in foreign countries. She said that on May 15, she and Secretary of State Alexander M. Haig Jr., sent a joint communique to all United States embassies reaffirming the agency policy that overseas volunteers not engage in spy or intelligence activities.
Although the agency is eliminating its operations in Korea, Colombia, Nicaragua and the Ivory Coast because of budget restraints, Mrs. Ruppe said that the Peace Corps, under the auspices of the United Nations Volunteer Agency, would soon send its first volunteer to China. She said that eventually other volunteers would be sent to China, which wants highly skilled workers.
The two-day conference, being held at Howard University, is focusing on American international relations during the next decade and the role of development abroad.
Links to Related Topics (Tags):
Peace Corps Annual Report: 1981; Loret Ruppe Miller; Figures; Directors
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Story Source: New York Times
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