Editing 79-02-B4 (section)

= Peace Corps =

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=== Transcript ===
For some years now we've had a "Peace Corps" operating throughout
the world. Starting out as an idealistic effort to benefit people in
the underdeveloped countries particularly, it has generally been
accepted as something akin to those unselfish good Samaritans, our
American missionaries.

Young people were recruited mainly from our colleges. They were
trained in a variety of ways. Then, they journeyed to far away places
where they lived in native villages, teaching the people about sanitation,
better ways to farm, health care , and helping in any way they
could.

But what Congress will face is the the possibility that the one
time idealism of the Peace Corps volunteer has given way to pure
political activism somewhat out of line with the Corps' original purpose.

The Peace Corps is a branch of an agency called "Action". Action
under this administration is headed up by a young man named Sam Brown.
A number of congressmen of both parties have been concerned for more
than a year that Director Brown has packed his agency with "New Left"
activists, veterans of the Anti-Vietnam war, radicals and others, and
that Action dollars are being used to finance the programs of the New
Left.

Sam Brown was an organizer in 1969 of the so called moratorium
demonstration. Well , after his appointment to "ACTION", he attended
the rally in New York to welcome the North Vietnamese conquerors to
the U.N. He listened to the denunciation of our country as "imperialists"
who had fought a bloody colonial war, and openly expressed his
joy at seeing a 15 year dream come true -- namely a communist victory
over the U.S. Brown has surrounded himself with veterans of the riotous
'60's -- Marge Tabankin to run the Vista program, Associate Director
John Lewis, formerly of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee --
some of whose spokesmen were Rap Brown and Stockley Carmichael, Berkeley
City councilwoman, who gained attention by refusing to stand for the
pledge to the flag.

What Congress will be looking at is the recent ousting of the
Peace Corps' Director, Carolyn Payton. Dr. Payton, a 53 year old black
psychologist, had confronted her superior Sam Brown , protesting that
the Peace Corps had been enmeshed in politics. She said it was "pursuing
objectives which have nothing to do with promoting world peace
and friendship." Dr. Payton made it clear that Peace Corps volunteers
were being used to export a particular ideology and were being encouraged
to engage in political activism. Their superiors would be pleased to
see them demonstrate overseas against corporations which engage in
practices with which they disagree.

I believe Sam Brown has a budget of about $200 million. You can
stir up a lot of trouble with that kind of money. I hope Congress listens
to Dr. Carolyn Payton -- we all should.

This is Ronald Reagan.

Thanks for listening.
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=== Details ===
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<TR><TD WIDTH="150">Batch Number</TD><TD WIDTH="150">{{PAGENAME}}</TD></TR>
<TD>Production Date</TD><TD>01/19/[[Radio1979|1979]]</TD></TR>
<TD>Book/Page</TD><TD>[[Radio_Commentary_Books#Reagan.27s_Path_to_Victory|RPtV-413]]</TD></TR>
<TD>Audio</TD><TD></TD></TR>
<TD>Youtube?</TD><TD>No</TD></TR>
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===Added Notes===

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