The Week

From a large office space, divided only by partitions, on the second floor of 244 East 46th Street, New York City, there are operating at the present time the following four organizations: 1) Youth Against the Ultra-Right Rally-one of the groups organizing picket lines against the YAF Madison Square Garden rally; 2) Liberation Committee for Africa, among whose officers appear names also associated with the Fair Play for Cuba Committee; 3) Afro-American Research Institute; 4) Information Bureau of the Congo (Leopoldville) Mission to the United Nations. Try reading the list over again, backwards.

President Kennedy has asked Congress to double the budget of the Peace Corps—from $30 million to $64 million. Why? Because the Peace Corps has accomplished deeds of measurable worth? No evidence of that, beyond its own Public Relations handouts. Because the Corps has produced a feeling of goodwill toward the United States? Not proven, perhaps even the opposite in a number of countries. Because the Corps is sought by many lands? Not always so: some countries don’t want it, don’t know what to do with it, and accept it merely to please their benefactor. Because it performs unique and indispensable tasks? Not so: it overlaps a dozen existing agencies, both U.S. and UN. No, the Administration’s interest in expanding the Peace Corps proceeds from the realities of precinct politics: the Corps is a lush growth which can sprout a separate branch for the Administration’s political family and friends; a production line for political plunder. And it is attractive to certain politicians just because it is illimitable, worldwide, and vague. If Parkinson’s Law holds, the Corps will keep reaching until someone (Congress) slaps it down.

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From a large office space, divided only by partitions, on the second floor of 244 East 46th Street, New York City, there are operating at the present time the following four organizations: 1) Youth Against the Ultra-Right Rally-one of the groups organizing picket lines against the YAF Madison Square Garden rally; 2) Liberation Committee for Africa, among whose officers appear names also associated with the Fair Play for Cuba Committee; 3) Afro-American Research Institute; 4) Information Bureau of the Congo (Leopoldville) Mission to the United Nations. Try reading the list over again, backwards.

President Kennedy has asked Congress to double the budget of the Peace Corps—from $30 million to $64 million. Why? Because the Peace Corps has accomplished deeds of measurable worth? No evidence of that, beyond its own Public Relations handouts. Because the Corps has produced a feeling of goodwill toward the United States? Not proven, perhaps even the opposite in a number of countries. Because the Corps is sought by many lands? Not always so: some countries don’t want it, don’t know what to do with it, and accept it merely to please their benefactor. Because it performs unique and indispensable tasks? Not so: it overlaps a dozen existing agencies, both U.S. and UN. No, the Administration’s interest in expanding the Peace Corps proceeds from the realities of precinct politics: the Corps is a lush growth which can sprout a separate branch for the Administration’s political family and friends; a production line for political plunder. And it is attractive to certain politicians just because it is illimitable, worldwide, and vague. If Parkinson’s Law holds, the Corps will keep reaching until someone (Congress) slaps it down.