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
Vaughn's connection with the Peace Corps began in 1961 when Peace Corps founding director Sargent Shriver came to Senegal where Vaughn was serving with USAID. "There were 4,000 volunteers signing up a day for the Peace Corps, and countries weren't asking for them. So Shriver came over to meet the Senegalese," says Vaughn. "I was the only one who spoke French.
I went up to meet Shriver and his lawyer in their hotel room. They did not have on a stitch of clothing. We all sat down and had a conversation. They said they had never seen heat like that. It was 120 degrees and no air conditioning." Vaughn's boxing prowess and prior experience as a prize fighter paid off when Sargent Shriver decided to recruit Vaughn. "I was recruited by Sargent Shriver because I had been in the ring with Sugar Ray Robinson," Vaughn said. "He loves jocks." Coates Redmond described Vaughn as "barely medium height, slight of build, with ginger-colored hair and a 1940s moustache to match, quietly spoken and careful of gesture" in her history of the early years of the Peace Corps, "Come As You Are". Before his appointment to the Peace Corps, Vaughn met with President Kennedy who didn't like Vaughn's mustache and told him he would have to shave it off if he wanted to work in the Peace Corps. Vaughn refused to shave the mustache but got the appointment anyway.