1996.12.29: December 29, 1996: Headlines: Directors - Ruppe: Figures: Directors: New York Times: Loret Miller Ruppe: The woman who saved the Peace Corps
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1996.12.29: December 29, 1996: Headlines: Directors - Ruppe: Figures: Directors: New York Times: Loret Miller Ruppe: The woman who saved the Peace Corps
Loret Miller Ruppe: The woman who saved the Peace Corps
Loret (as everyone called her) went on to become, as one Kennedy-era volunteer put it, ''the Peace Corps' greatest director.'' The corps' founding director, Sargent Shriver, says that without her, the agency would have been ''blown out of existence.'' During her tenure, a period of relentless budgetary pressure, the Peace Corps allocation was consistently increased and the number of volunteers rose 20 percent. But her most significant legacy was legislation that made country directorships nonpartisan appointments. On this and every innovation, she fought the White House staff, but soon, to the dismay of his advisers, President Reagan was receiving Peace Corps volunteers on the White House lawn. Loret was a hands-on director. Even if it took hours in a Jeep, she would get to remote villages and sit with volunteers, asking how Washington could help. Under her watch, the number of older volunteers increased and all volunteers were required to have a skill. Her own daughter, Loret Jr., became the first director's child to serve, building bridges in Nepal. In that, the young Ruppe was only continuing a family tradition. Her grandparents, the Millers, were wealthy Milwaukee Catholics who stressed faith and service. When Loret's older brother and her father were killed in a plane crash the Christmas she was 19, letters poured in, praising Frederick Miller's good works. Loret never forgot her father's exhortation: ''Be the very best you can be,'' but she was also influenced by her mother, Adele, a socialist and lifelong peace activist. Explaining Loret's commitment to the Peace corps, a younger sister says simply, ''It was the way we were raised.''
Loret Miller Ruppe: The woman who saved the Peace Corps
THE HEIRESS WHO SAVED THE PEACE CORPS
By HONOR MOORE
Published: December 29, 1996
1936-1996 Ruppe had a habit of turning political patronage into serious missions: in eight years as Peace Corps director, she reinvigorated the organization. And for her ambassadorial work, she was awarded the Grand Cross of the Norwegian Order of Merit.
IN MARCH, WHEN LORET MILLER RUPPE addressed the 35th Peace Corps reunion, she received a standing ovation. She said: ''In 1983 an official State Department document listed us as the 'Peach Corps.' I said, 'I hope that doesn't mean they will cut us to the pit.' '' The crowd laughed appreciatively. They knew something aobut Ruppe that the Reagan White House hadn't realized in 1980, when she asked to be appointed director of the Peace Corps.
Back then, she had never held a paying job. The wife of a former Republican Congressman, the motherof five daughters and a member of the Miller brewing family, she was a great party asset. A veteran of six successful campaigns for Phil Ruppe, a moderate Republican from Michigan, she had managed George Bush's Michigan Presidential primary victory and served as a state co-chairman for Reagan-Bush. The Reagan team, which planned to shrink the budget of the agency, was delighted to hand over such an insignificant sinecure.
Morale was therefore low at the 20th reunion of the Peace Corps when the director designate stood to speak. And when Ruppe (pronounced ROO-pee) allowed that most of her travel experience had been on the arm of her Congressman husband, and audible moan rose in the hall.
The moan came from the wrong quarter. On Ruppe's first visit to the White House, the Peace Corps liaison let her cool her heels for 45 minutes and then boasted he had recommended the agency be abolished. Ruppe rose, extended her hand and said, ''I guess I'll have to request another liaison.'' She learned to talk abut the corps' mission in the conservative terms of volunteerism and self-sufficiency, and built a constituency on Capitol Hill, including former Peace Corps volunteers and her husband's Congressional colleagues who, like him, had supported agency legislation.
Loret (as everyone called her) went on to become, as one Kennedy-era volunteer put it, ''the Peace Corps' greatest director.'' The corps' founding director, Sargent Shriver, says that without her, the agency would have been ''blown out of existence.'' During her tenure, a period of relentless budgetary pressure, the Peace Corps allocation was consistently increased and the number of volunteers rose 20 percent. But her most significant legacy was legislation that made country directorships nonpartisan appointments. On this and every innovation, she fought the White House staff, but soon, to the dismay of his advisers, President Reagan was receiving Peace Corps volunteers on the White House lawn.
Loret was a hands-on director. Even if it took hours in a Jeep, she would get to remote villages and sit with volunteers, asking how Washington could help. Under her watch, the number of older volunteers increased and all volunteers were required to have a skill. Her own daughter, Loret Jr., became the first director's child to serve, building bridges in Nepal.
In that, the young Ruppe was only continuing a family tradition. Her grandparents, the Millers, were wealthy Milwaukee Catholics who stressed faith and service. When Loret's older brother and her father were killed in a plane crash the Christmas she was 19, letters poured in, praising Frederick Miller's good works. Loret never forgot her father's exhortation: ''Be the very best you can be,'' but she was also influenced by her mother, Adele, a socialist and lifelong peace activist. Explaining Loret's commitment to the Peace corps, a younger sister says simply, ''It was the way we were raised.''
After Loret left the Peace Corps, her long-term friend President Bush named her Ambassador to Norway, a job she took to with the enthusiasm of a Peace Corps volunteer.
Even after learning that she had ovarian cancer, Loret was a maverick. Once at daily Mass, she saw a little girl who had lost her hair from chemotherapy. Without hesitation, Loret pulled off her wig, showing her own bald head.
Honor Moore is author of ''The White Blackbird,'' a biography of her grandmother the painter Margarett Sargent.
Links to Related Topics (Tags):
Peace Corps Annual Report: 1996; Loret Ruppe Miller; Figures; Directors
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Story Source: New York Times
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