Peace Corps Commemorative
The Peace Corps program was established by Executive Order 10924, which was issued by President John F. Kennedy on March 1, 1961. The program was legislatively authorized by Congress on September 21, 1961, with passage of the Peace Corps Act (Pub.L. 87–293). Between 1961 and 2013, over 215,000 Americans joined the Peace Corps. The National Peace Corps Association, a nonprofit organization for Peace Corps alumni, established the Peace Corps Commemorative Foundation to advocate for a commemorative to honor the mission of the Peace Corps and the values on which it was founded.
Jack Vaughn
On February 28, 2008 Vaughn published an op-ed in the "Tucson Citizen" supporting expansion of the Peace Corps and defending the relevance of the Peace Corps in today's world. "What the Peace Corps set out as its goals in 1961 coincides almost exactly with what most of our presidential candidates in 2008 have promised to seek at home, e.g. bringing real change, better health care, improved environmental protection, peace by means other than bludgeoning, burnishing the U.S. image abroad (an area in which the Peace Corps has no rival), promoting nonpartisan solutions, better education at all levels, with a major focus on helping the poor and disadvantaged," wrote Vaughn. "Is there a chance our next president, having talked the Peace Corps talk so faithfully and so long, will be able to stay real and walk the Peace Corps walk (while increasing the Peace Corps budget)?"