50th anniversary of the Peace Corps

Congress passed the Peace Corps Act ON Sept. 22, 1961. Four Peace Corps volunteers shared their experiences in a panel discussion at the Kennedy Library in Boston. The moderator was Stanley Meisler, author of "When the World Calls: The Inside Story of the Peace Corps and its First Fifty Years."

Guests

• Stanley Meisler: Author, "When the World Calls: The Inside Story of the Peace Corps and its First Fifty Years." Longtime foreign correspondent for the Los Angeles Times and author of other prominent books and articles.
• Joe Kennedy III: Peace Corps volunteer (Dominican Republic 2004-2006) Grandson of former US Senator and Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy. Cape & Islands assistant district attorney, in Massachusetts.
• Elaine Jones: Civil rights leader and attorney. Peace Corps volunteer (one of the first African-Americans to serve in Turkey). First female director-counsel and president of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. Now retired.
• Sarah Chayes: Peace Corps volunteer (Morocco). Award-winning former reporter for National Public Radio and the Christian Science Monitor. Has lived in Afghanistan since 2002.
• Paul Theroux: Peace Corps volunteer (1963 Malawi), travel writer and novelist. Author of dozens of books, his best known "The Great Railway Bazaar."

More from MPR

• Shriver, one of last links to JFK White House, dies
  January 18, 2011
• Dim job prospects lead college grads to public service
  July 2, 2010
• Suburban dad leaves Burnsville to govern in Somalia
  March 26, 2010
• Peace Corps -- not just for the young anymore
  April 8, 2008
• StoryCorps: Extraordinary stories from everyday people
  June 29, 2005

Resources

• John F. Kennedy Library website: video of the forum
• Peace Corps website