Wofford's persistent call for national service is also still echoing. In fact, he led Peace Corps marchers in President Obama's Inaugural Parade, representing the 190,000 volunteers who've served since 1961, and carrying the flags of the 139 nations where Peace Corps volunteers have served. Someone said that it was as though "Kennedy's Kids" were passing the banner to "Obama's Kids," and it did seem as though the flame of idealism and service was being reignited.
Uzbekistan John Smart writes: A renewed call to national service
The call
By John Smart
In 1991, I was living in Philadelphia when Pennsylvania Senator John Heinz was killed in a plane crash. Governor Bob Casey appointed Harris Wofford, a brilliant but relatively obscure college president, to the seat. Casey had to run in a special election in November of that same year against Dick Thornburgh, the former governor and the U.S. Attorney General.
Nobody gave Wofford much of a chance of holding on to the seat in that election - Thornburgh was so much better known and had lots more money - but Wofford employed a couple of political unknowns named James Carville and Paul Begala to run his campaign, and the rest is history. (Paul's sister was a good friend of mine, and through her I ended up in the middle of that campaign, which was an extraordinary experience.)
Unfortunately, Senator Wofford lost his bid for re-election against Rick Santorum in the wave of Republican wins in 1994. (In a nice twist of irony, Santorum was pitched out of office by Governor Casey's son, Bob Jr., in the Democratic sweep of 2006.)
Wofford had been a close advisor to President Kennedy, and was one of the creators of the Peace Corps, which he later served in several different capacities. My association with Senator Wofford in that campaign reinvigorated my own interest in the Peace Corps. I applied and entered Peace Corps service when I left for Uzbekistan in September of 1995, where I served for three years - and it changed my life.
More recently, it was Senator Wofford who introduced candidate Barack Obama in Philadelphia on March 18, 2008, when he delivered his famous speech on race, "A More Perfect Union."
President Kennedy's famous call to service came in his inaugural address on January 20, 1961: “My fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man." That call is still echoing, for me and countless others...
Wofford was recently quoted saying, "As the government seeks to deal with the economic crisis and relieve the distress felt by millions of families, we should not overlook the great American tradition of service. More than 60 million citizens every year are providing service to their neighbors and their communities. Lawmakers who will soon consider a financial stimulus package should also consider a 'service stimulus.' Repairing the roads and bridges of our physical infrastructure is urgently needed, but we also need to expand our civic infrastructure dramatically. President Barack Obama has vowed to make service a central cause of his presidency. In his call to service outlining plans for a large expansion of citizen service, he said he would reach out to Republicans, Democrats and independents alike, young and old, and ask all of us for our service and active citizenship. 'We need your service, right now,' he said."
Wofford's persistent call for national service is also still echoing. In fact, he led Peace Corps marchers in President Obama's Inaugural Parade, representing the 190,000 volunteers who've served since 1961, and carrying the flags of the 139 nations where Peace Corps volunteers have served. Someone said that it was as though "Kennedy's Kids" were passing the banner to "Obama's Kids," and it did seem as though the flame of idealism and service was being reignited.
National Peace Corps Week is February 23 through March 2 (President Kennedy's executive order creating the Peace Corps was issued on March 1, 1961), and returned volunteers all over the United States will be speaking before school classes, community groups and social organizations. There is a renewed sense of purpose based on President Obama's clear support for expanding and reinvigorating the Peace Corps as well as other means of national service. We even have an organization called MorePeaceCorps.org dedicated to doubling the size of the Peace Corps in time for its 50th birthday on March 1, 2011.
Anyone interested in having a Peace Corps speaker for their school or group is encouraged to contact the organization Returned Peace Corps Volunteers of Wisconsin.
And that call to national service includes the U.S. military services, Americorps and VISTA - as well as the Peace Corps. We are all called to different things, to varied responsibilities - but we are all called.
