Forty-Fifth Anniversary of the Peace Corps

Thank you for the opportunity to be here on this momentous occasion. It is truly gratifying for me to be able to participate in this historic celebration of one of our country’s most cherished institutions that embodies the strong tradition of caring of our nation.

Forty-five years ago, President John F. Kennedy challenged us to embrace a bold experiment in public service: to serve our country in the cause of peace and human progress, and bring a message of hope and freedom to the farthest reaches of the globe on behalf of our nation.

Born in an address to students on a Fall day at the University of Michigan, and signed into law just months later, the Peace Corps today has come to define not just an era, but also a great part our national fabric: our generous spirit of volunteerism. Today, the Peace Corps has become a jewel of our nation and of American foreign policy, representing the very best of our culture—our vision, our energy, our aspirations, our spirit of sharing, our solid belief in democratic values. And also, our willingness to listen, and to learn.

Its extraordinary impact can be felt the world over. Living with people in their cities and villages, speaking their languages, helping them develop their natural and human resources, Peace Corps volunteers have helped individuals build a better life for themselves, their children and communities. Theodore Sorensen, in his writings, reminds us how Peace Corps volunteers became better known outside of a host country’s capital city than any American diplomat, and in the process served as this nation’s most effective "ambassadors of idealism."

We have seen in the statements by leaders such as President Alejandro Toledo of Peru, and so many others, the Peace Corps’ profound impact in giving people a head start in life and shaping the leaders of tomorrow.

The cumulative effect of the Peace Corps experience over the years has also helped to shape, particularly, our post Cold War policy approach to this hemisphere which can be reduced to two words: democracy and development.

Since the founding of the Peace Corps, the Western Hemisphere has undergone profound and positive changes: Democracy prevails in all countries but one; respect for human rights is the norm, not the exception; Central America is born anew as an economically vibrant example of democracy; control of the military has passed on to civilian hands; and the challenge before us today centers on what former Inter-American Development Bank president Enrique Iglesias calls "better state/more markets," that is, efficient government institutions and more economic freedom to deliver the benefits of democracy to all.

People throughout the region have made enormous sacrifices to defeat dictators and strengthen their democracies, and must now consolidate these gains in the face of very serious challenges. And the biggest challenge we face in the region today emanates from poverty, from social exclusion, and from the inability, in some societies, of institutions delivering the goods and services that people need and expect to take advantage of economic opportunity. Because democracy, in the end, is about "delivering the goods."

In a region where 40% of the people live on $3 a day or less, institutions must change; they must become more accountable and responsive to the needs of citizens. Institutions must be reformed to fight corruption and to function transparently. And governments need a greater ability to serve every citizen more effectively and justly.

As President Bush has stated: "As elections and democracies have spread across our hemisphere, we see a revolution in expectations. As with each generation that grows up in freedom and democracy, these expectations rise—and the demands for accountability grow. Either demoracies will meet these legitimate demands, or we will yield the future to the enemies of freedom."

The Bush Administration’s policy in the region is rooted in this link between democracy and development.

In Latin America and the Caribbean, the Bush administration has doubled its official foreign assistance since coming into office ($862,452,000 in FY2001 to $1,819,423,000 in FY2005), and the figure has tripled since 1997 ($681,426,000).

On top of these levels, we are making new funds available through the Millennium Challenge Account which builds on the Monterrey Consensus—articulated at the International Conference on Financing for Development in Monterrey, Mexico in March 2002—which states that those countries that implement sound economic policies, promote good governance, and strengthen the rule of law will receive the support of the international community.

Last year, we signed compacts with Honduras for $215 million to improve road infrastructure and agricultural diversification and market access; and with Nicaragua for $175 million to improve property rights, infrastructure and competitiveness of rural businesses. We are negotiating a compact with El Salvador and devoting $35 million to help Paraguay fight corruption and improve its business climate.

Today in the Americas, the United States is committed to fostering democratic governance and protecting fundamental rights and liberties enshrined in the Inter-American Democratic Charter. Working bilaterally—through our foreign assistance programs and diplomatic outreach—and multilaterally, through the Organiation of American States, we are also helping our partners in the Americas attack poverty, inequality, and political marginalization. We are helping them invest in people through improved education and training, health care, access to capital, economic infrastructure, and security for their families and their property, in helping to unlock the vast potential of the peoples of the Americas.

And Peace Corps volunteers, country by country, program by program, have been and continue to be and integral part—and the human face—of this approach.

Our agenda in the Americas is positive. It is based on cooperation that spans the bilateral, the multilateral, and people-to-people collaboration. It recognizes the transformational power of democracy, and the need to respect human dignity and individual freedom.

The work of the Peace Corps is critical in helping achieve these objectives, and we see its impact throughout the region every day:

• Peace Corps programs in Nicaragua are helping to improve the quality of life through projects in small business development, health, youth development, environment and agriculture.
• In Paraguay, Peace Corps volunteers have served since 1967, and today work in seven major sectors, including education, health, small enterprise development, municipal services development, and urban youth development.
• Since 1962, the Peace Corps has been engaged in the Dominican Republic to assist in such areas as urban and rural development, providing direct community based technical assistance to marginalized sectors of society, and implementing information technology programs.
• In Bolivia, Peace Corps volunteers are working with national agencies and municipal governments in the areas of natural resource management, community tourism development, and water and sanitation.
• And throughout the Caribbean, young people are being provided education, job skills training and health services.

It is, quite simply, as Senator Norm Coleman has so eloquently noted: "our nation at its best." The Peace Corps gives life to the American ideals of compassion and generosity, and satisfies our desire to give the best of our country. And that is why the Peace Corps enjoys such broad and enthusiastic bi-partisan support.

That is also why the Bush Administration is committed to doubling its ranks of volunteers. As President Bush said in his State of the Union Address in 2002, his first State of the Union message following the terrorist attacks on 9/11, we must "renew the promise of the Peace Corps," because "America needs citizens to extend the compassion of our country to every part of the world."

In a week in which we remember 9/11, in many ways I can think of no greater honor to the victims of that terrible tragedy than this event here tonight. In an age in which terrorists and suicide bombers export violence, hate and destruction, we come together tonight to renew our commitment to a beloved American institution in the business of building lives and contributing to the welfare of others—spreading hope and understanding, and advancing the cause of peace. Indeed, the greatness of America. Both could not be further apart in their human dimensions: one, a portrait of premeditated evil; the other, a symbol of great human achievement that exalts civilization.

Thank you Peace Corps. You have changed the world, and we are all the better for it. You have kept alive the promise of a vision that started nearly half a century ago, and done good by the words of an American president who reminded us that "here on earth, God’s work must truly be our own." Thank you very much.