This month U-M commemorates the 50th anniversary of Sen. John F. Kennedy’s Oct. 14, 1960 speech outside the Michigan Union. Kennedy that night sparked the creation of the Peace Corps when he urged students to work in developing countries to promote peace.
John F. Kennedy went on to become the youngest man elected to the presidency just three weeks after his visit to U-M.
He had made his famous impromptu remarks because thousands of students were waiting for him when he arrived at the Michigan Union after 2 a.m. He vowed to return to campus but his life and presidency were cut short by an assassin’s bullet on Nov. 22, 1963.
Kennedy’s vice president and successor, Lyndon Johnson, would make good on that promise by delivering a commencement address at U-M where Johnson unveiled the Great Society, the largest package of social legislation ever enacted. What happened to other key players involved with birth of the Peace Corps?
Alan Guskin, one of the student leaders who organized the students credited with convincing Kennedy to follow through with establishing a strong Peace Corps class, would eventually serve as president and then chancellor of Antioch University.
Guskin remained politically active through most of that decade and was part of the campaign of JFK’s brother Bobby until the younger brother also was assassinated in 1968. After the second Kennedy assassination, Guskin said he didn’t get involved with another campaign until Obama’s in 2008. He currently is Distinguished University Professor of Higher Education in Antioch’s Leadership and Change program. He will be speaking at U-M Oct. 14. For more information about this talk and other related events, go to peacecorps.umich.edu/events.html.
Harris Wofford, a JFK aide who was one of the founders of the Peace Corps and came to U-M to speak to the first graduating Peace Corps class bound for Thailand, went on to advise Martin Luther King and Robert F. Kennedy, later assuming a number of prominent national leadership roles including his election to the U.S. Senate.
In 1991 Wofford became the first Democratic U.S. senator from Pennsylvania in 20 years. His 1991 upset landslide over former Gov. Dick Thornburgh sent shock waves through national political circles and then-presidential candidate Bill Clinton quickly hired Wofford advisers James Carville and Paul Begala to mastermind his 1992 election to the presidency. He will be speaking at U-M Oct. 14.
Wofford also served as president of Bryn Mawr College and as chief executive officer of the Corporation for National and Community Service (the federal agency that runs AmeriCorps and other domestic volunteer programs), from 1995 to 2001.
Tom Hayden, the Michigan Daily editor who actively covered the efforts to win public support for starting the Peace Corps, became a nationally known social and political activist widely known for his crusades for student rights (founding Students for a Democratic Society), civil rights, animal rights and his opposition to the Vietnam War. He was married to actress Jane Fonda during this period, adding to his public attention.
He served in the California Legislature for more than a decade. He will be speaking at U-M Oct. 14.
Phil Power, the Michigan Daily editorial director who wrote often calling for greater student involvement with government and university administration, went on to found HomeTown Communications, as chairman publisher and owner of a newspaper company printing 62 community newspapers, and served as a U-M regent.
In 2006 he founded the Center for Michigan, a “think-and-do tank” actively involved in efforts to reach political consensus on a number of statewide issues.
Sargent Shriver, the first director of the Peace Corps, was succeeded by U-M graduate Jack Vaughn in 1966. Shriver was a special assistant to Johnson, created the Office of Economic Opportunity and was the Democratic nominee for vice president in 1972. He made an unsuccessful run for president in 1976.
Shriver was active in forming a number of organizations including Special Olympics, Upward Bound, VISTA and the Job Corps. His daughter Maria Shriver, a former NBC anchor, currently is first lady of the state of California.
