Statement by Representative James A. Leach

Peace Corps: A Model for Hope
Statement by Representative James A. Leach
Before the House of Representatives
March 10, 2005

Mr. Speaker:

I would like to take a moment to recognize that last week was National
Peace Corps Week and to applaud the thousands of Americans who have
represented the U.S. since 1961 in the Peace Corps in 138 countries.
Emblematic of the idealism of America are the 15 volunteers from my
district in Southeast Iowa who are currently serving on four continents, in
desert villages, mountain towns and city centers from Ukraine to Panama and
Morocco.

A Peace Corps volunteer is charged with three missions: the first is to
help the people of host countries in meeting their need for trained
professionals; the second is to help promote understanding of America
around the world; and the third is to help expand American understanding of
other peoples and countries.

Thus, the job of the Peace Corps volunteer is not over when their
assignment is completed.  Volunteers maintain a duty to share their grasp
of the people, the language and the culture of the countries in which they
served.

Not long ago, in a speech at Yale University, the first Peace Corps
Director, Sargent Shriver, declared that he wanted to add a fourth goal: to
"bind all human beings together in a common cause to assure peace and
survival for all."

No mission is more altruistic; nor more consequential.  Geopolitical
realists might consider such majesty of purpose to be naïve.  Actually,
there is no rational alternative in a world where history has known few
generations unaffected by the strife of war; where the creation of weapons
of mass destruction has increased the vulnerability of the human race.  As
Einstein noted, splitting the atom has changed everything except our way of
thinking.  It is the capacity to think that, at its best, characterizes
mankind, but, at its least impressive, has yet to be harnessed in such a
way as to give confidence that modern man can live with modern technology.

In this context of concern for the common fate of all mankind, the Peace
Corps stands out as the singular institution in American society that
provides a model for hope and a cause for optimism.