Peace Corps in the context of "M. Brewster Smith"

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👉 Peace Corps in the context of M. Brewster Smith

Mahlon Brewster Smith (June 26, 1919 – August 4, 2012) was an American psychologist and past president of the American Psychological Association. His career included faculty appointments at Vassar College, New York University, University of California, Berkeley, University of Chicago and University of California, Santa Cruz. Smith had been briefly involved with the Young Communist League as a student at Reed College in the 1930s, which resulted in a subpoena by the U.S. Senate in the 1950s. That activity caused him to be blacklisted by the National Institute of Mental Health for ten years without his knowledge.

Smith testified against segregation in schools as an expert witness in the Brown v. Board of Education case; the scope and scientific basis for Smith's testimony have been the subjects of controversy. He was the vice president of the Joint Commission on Mental Illness and Health, the group whose recommendations led to the deinstitutionalization of most of the mentally ill in the United States. In 1961, he helped to interview and select the first group of Peace Corps volunteers.

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Peace Corps in the context of Walter Reuther

Walter Philip Reuther (/ˈrθər/; September 1, 1907 – May 9, 1970) was an American leader of organized labor and civil rights activist who built the United Automobile Workers (UAW) into one of the most progressive labor unions in American history. He considered labor movements not as narrow special interest groups but as instruments to advance social justice and human rights in democratic societies. He leveraged the UAW's resources and influence to advocate for workers' rights, civil rights, women's rights, universal health care, public education, affordable housing, environmental stewardship and nuclear nonproliferation around the world. He believed in Swedish-style social democracy and societal change through nonviolent civil disobedience. He cofounded the AFL-CIO in 1955 with George Meany. He survived two attempted assassinations, including one at home where he was struck by a 12-gauge shotgun blast fired through his kitchen window. He was the fourth and longest serving president of the UAW, serving from 1946 until his death in 1970.

As the leader of five million autoworkers, including retirees and their families, Reuther was influential inside the Democratic Party. Following the Bay of Pigs in 1961, President John F. Kennedy sent Reuther to Cuba to negotiate a prisoner exchange with Fidel Castro. He was instrumental in spearheading the creation of the Peace Corps and in marshaling support for the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, Medicare and Medicaid, and the Fair Housing Act. He met weekly in 1964 and 1965 with President Lyndon B. Johnson at the White House to discuss policies and legislation for the Great Society and war on poverty. The Republican Party was wary of Reuther, leading presidential candidate Richard Nixon to say about John F. Kennedy during the 1960 election, "I can think of nothing so detrimental to this nation than for any President to owe his election to, and therefore be a captive of, a political boss like Walter Reuther." Conservative politician Barry Goldwater declared that Reuther "was more dangerous to our country than Sputnik or anything Soviet Russia might do."

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Peace Corps in the context of Nueva Guinea

Nueva Guinea (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈnweβa ɣiˈnea]) is a town and a municipality in the South Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region of Nicaragua.

Nueva Guinea was founded in the 1960s and saw significant growth in the early 1970s as the US Peace Corps helped to move families from the Pacific region of Nicaragua to Nueva Guinea in exchange for free land and agricultural help.

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Peace Corps in the context of Title 22 of the United States Code

Title 22 of the United States Code outlines the role of foreign relations and intercourse in the United States Code.

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Peace Corps in the context of Paul Tsongas

Paul Efthemios Tsongas (/ˈsɒŋɡəs/ SONG-gəs; February 14, 1941 – January 18, 1997) was an American politician who represented Massachusetts in the United States Senate from 1979 until 1985 and in the United States House of Representatives from 1975 until 1979. A member of the Democratic Party, he ran for president in 1992. He won eight contests during the presidential primaries but ultimately lost the nomination to Bill Clinton, who later won the general election.

Born in Lowell, Massachusetts, Tsongas graduated from Dartmouth College, Yale Law School and the Kennedy School of Government. After working for the Peace Corps and as an aide to Congressman F. Bradford Morse, Tsongas successively won election as a city councilor and county commissioner. In 1974, Tsongas was elected to the House of Representatives representing Massachusetts's 5th congressional district, after defeating incumbent Paul W. Cronin. In 1978, he ran for the Senate, and defeated incumbent Republican Edward Brooke.

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