Arnold Schwarzenegger’s father-in-law waxed historic, and profane, when the topic of a tiny agency dear to him was broached last week.
“The Peace Corps got lots of support until Nixon,” said R. Sargent Shriver Jr., who served as the group’s first director at the behest of President John Kennedy, his brother-in-law.
“For Nixon, Kissinger and 98 percent of the State Department, the Peace Corps was ridiculous, naive and offbeat,” said Shriver, so fit and lucid at age 82, NASA should send him into space.
“So Nixon cut it in half, and it slobbered along at about 6,500 volunteers,” said Shriver, who helps run the family-inspired Special
Olympics program with his wife, Eunice. “Carter didn’t raise that number, and Reagan zero-budgeted (eliminated) it, though Congress refused to go along. So it was basically maintained.”
Once upon a time, the corps sent 16,000 volunteers overseas. By the Bush years and President Clinton’s first term, it was down to about one-third that number while operating in about 90 countries. Now comes a big surprise.
Clinton proposes funding increases to recapture a level of 10,000 volunteers by the year 2000. The $48 million increase is a pittance in the great scheme of things, as is its $222 million budget. Still, federal agencies just don’t get 21 percent budget hikes these days.
What happened?
Most roads lead to Mark Gearan, the agency’s director and Clinton loyalist.
Gearan, 41, is an attorney and political operative who, as I’ve remarked to him, resembles a small-town Midwest Rotarian and bank president. No frills, very capable, albeit with a tad more guile than one might assume given the cherubic visage.
Raised outside Boston, he was press secretary for Michael Dukakis’ 1988 presidential campaign, executive director of the Democratic Governors Association and campaign manager for Vice President Al Gore in 1992.
He was in the Clinton camp before other well-known aides, such as George Stephanopoulos and James Carville, and was one of the more popular officials in the early days of the Clinton White House. Then, and now, one hears few discouraging words, even “off the record,” or “on background” or, more perilously to a subject, on “deep background.”
He left the White House hot house three years ago for a place only slightly less contentious and rife with independent-minded souls and people grousing about insufficient resources. No surprise, he raised eyebrows because he was not a Peace Corps alumnus and was too “political.”
Ever the smart operative, Gearan exploited his strengths, including ties to the White House, say colleagues, and set the stage for the big boost from Clinton.
With the Republicans running Congress, he dutifully reduced headquarters staff by 11 percent (though it appears lots of six-figure officials remain). He scrapped some domestic recruiting offices and cut medical costs.
In the eyes of some, he tends to spend too much time in his office and on the phone, as opposed to his more outgoing, gregarious predecessor, Carol Bellamy, who was more of a presence to many workers at headquarters.
But he has offset qualms by persuading the president to go forward with what is a classic Clinton foray: high-profile, low-risk, not very expensive. Further, he has distanced the agency from the White House, and it has not been criticized by the GOP as has the Clinton’s National Service program.
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“We are excited about the challenge and the president’s initiative,” Gearan said. “We know the demand is there around the world. We also know the supply is here in the U.S. Americans, especially younger ones, are looking to make a difference.”
Recruitment and training so many people so fast will not be easy, especially since Peace Corps programming is more sophisticated these days. Where you once dispatched young generalists to teach English in the Philippines or dig a road in Africa, now there’s a greater need for savvy business, computer and health-care types.
The recruitment slant suggests an internal debate over the agency’s future. Should it be dominated by business folks sent to emerging economies or by those interested in aiding the truly downtrodden?
Whoever wins will have more money and new volunteers such as Jimmy Carter’s 22-year-old grandson, who just signed up for a two-year stint in South Africa.
“We had a pretty good case to argue,” Gearan said. “You don’t get a 21 percent increase based on charity to Mark Gearan.”
Give a guy a break
Further evidence of the decline of Western civilization:
The Newseum, a fancy new museum about the media that is the handiwork of the billion-dollar Freedom Forum, has a “Journalist of the Day” program. You sit there and answer questions from visitors.
Friday’s “journalist” at the Arlington, Va., facility was G. Gordon Liddy, the Watergate felon who is now a radio talk host.
Cokie Watch
In case you forgot, it’s time for the annual meeting of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives. They gather Sunday in Orlando.
They will hear from Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and Rep. Charles Stenholm (D-Texas), who are barred by ethics rules from taking any money from the group.
But a public relations breakfast will feature New York Daily News political reporter Steve Roberts, a member of journalism’s most
potent moonlighting partnership, offering thoughts on “Politics on the Potomac: The Year Ahead.”
His take will be $6,500, according to a council official. It’s paltry compared to his spouse’s usual fee but, hey, a guy’s got to make a living.