MR. KOJO NNAMDIRobert Sargent Shriver passed away yesterday at the age of 95. He was, among his many remarkable achievements, the founder of the Peace Corps, an organization that offered a new way to serve one's country. Since its founding in 1961, more than 600,000 Peace Corps volunteers have worked in countries around the world, sending young ambassadors to help build wells and to teach and to show a different side of America to the world. Sargent Shriver's legacy, of course, goes beyond the Peace Corps. It includes human rights campaigns both at home and abroad. He was a tireless advocate for the poor and helped create lot of these successful programs we know today like Head Start. With us today to remember Sargent Shriver is Mark Schneider. Mark served as the 15th director of the Peace Corps between 1999 and 2001. He is the senior vice-president and special adviser on Latin America with the International Crisis Group. Mark, thank you for joining us.

MR. MARK SCHNEIDERNot at all. Thank you.

NNAMDIYou too can join the conversation at 800-433-8850. Have you too served in the Peace Corps? What stories did you bring back? Where you a neighbor, friend or associate of Sargent Shriver? You can call us with your own special memory, 800-433-8850. Mark, you knew Sargent Shriver well and traveled with him on many occasions. What are your deepest impressions of him, the kind of person he was?

SCHNEIDERI think that what strikes you is that he had the most outrageous dreams about what could be done, and not only made everyone believe that that was possible, but he then went out to do them. And if you think about what he did with the Peace Corps, with Head Start, with Vista, with the Special Olympics, with he and his wife, and the reality is that Sarge simply believed there was nothing that you could not do if you put your mind to it. And he believed fundamentally in service and in the ideal of the citizen, the citizen as someone who participated actively in the life of his country or her country and in the life of the world. And he felt that everyone could serve.

NNAMDIAgain, if you have memories of Sargent Shriver, you can call us at 800-433-8850 or share them with us at our website kojoshow.org. Mark, before the Peace Corps, Sargent Shriver was a founding member of America's -- America First, that was an organization that focused on keeping the U.S. out of World War II, but he ended up volunteering to serve and earned a Purple Heart. Do you think his service influenced his thinking on creating a force for peace?

SCHNEIDERI think there is no question that his service brought to him again the absolute requirement that the United States reach out to the rest of the world in an effort to contribute to remove the causes of conflict and to reduce issues, to reduce poverty, to contribute to countries' ability to develop. You know, the Peace Corps had three fundamental objectives, and still does. And that's one of the great things about the Peace Corps is that those objectives have not changed in 50 years. And on March 1, it will mark the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Peace Corps, when President Kennedy issued the executive order creating the Peace Corps.

SCHNEIDERAnd those three sort of values and objectives are to contribute to other countries' ability to deal with the problems of economic and social needs. Second, to allow Americans to learn about what the world around them really is and to bring that knowledge back to the United States. And the third is to ensure that people around the world learn who we are as a country by virtue of knowing and working and living with volunteers who come from every part of this country of ours. And as you mentioned, not only have we had several hundred thousand, but right now we have somewhere over 8,600 volunteers spread out across 77 countries.

SCHNEIDERAnd they continue to do what the Sarge felt was necessary, which is to reach out and create that kind of contribution in other countries. You know, one of the other things is that in terms of his -- when I became Peace Corps director, he invited me to lunch. And I said, you know, the -- at that time, President Clinton and now President Obama have indicated support to double the size of the Peace Corps. And he said, well, what size is that now? I said, we're about 7,500 and we're gonna go to 15,000. He said, that's nothing. He said, we had 15,000 in 1970. He said, what we need to do is we need to get to 100,000. That's what President Kennedy felt that we would begin to make an impact. And so, he -- that was a belief that he had then and that continued to be his belief in later years.

NNAMDIGrowing up in Guyana, South America, many of the first Americans I met were Peace Corps volunteers, but you're talking 1961. How unusual was the idea of non-military service to the country at that time?

SCHNEIDERI think it was hugely groundbreaking. And what occurred -- in fact, this is the 50th anniversary. At the 40th anniversary, I went back to the University of Michigan and President Kennedy had gone there at a campaign stop in -- during the campaign in 1960. And he had met with the students there and they were waiting for him at 2 a.m. And he set out the idea of whether they would be willing to give up two years of their lives to contribute and live and participate in the changing world around. And the response was so enormous that students coming together, signing petitions, saying that they wanted to serve. That he then told Sarge, make it happen, and Sarge did.

NNAMDI800-433-8850. If you have served in the Peace Corps, you might wanna talk about how it affected the rest of your life. Mark, what kind of impact would you say the Peace Corps has had, first, on the country?

SCHNEIDERI think what it's done is it's enabled so many Americans, and their families, and their communities to really know what is happening around the world, to recognize that there is a far larger community with people who have the same kinds of desires and hopes for their children, better education, better lives, as they do in their own communities. And that seems to me to be fundamental. And the second is that I think that has provided some Americans who have actually experienced the Peace Corps with a determination to continue to serve when they return home, and also for many of us with a determination to continue to participate in international relations, international development.

SCHNEIDERYou know, at one point, I worked for USAID. And the first day there, I just simply asked all of the people assembled, I said, how many of you served in the Peace Corps? And this is the entire bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean. And 40 percent had served in the Peace Corps. So many of our ambassadors have also served in the Peace Corps. So in a lot of ways, it's enriched our capability to carry out foreign policy around the world.

NNAMDIOnto Peggy in Washington, D.C. Peggy, you're on the air. Go ahead, please.

PEGGYThank you, Kojo. I applied for Peace Corps in 1964 and I went over in 1988. So it was a dream for me for a long time and I was inspired by Shriver who I met several times in Washington, even in past years. And he was always the optimist. And let me just plug a book, this most wonderful biography about Sargent Shriver, it's called "Sarge" by Scott Stossell S-T-O-S-S-E-L-L. Even when this wonderful program is over, go and read "Sarge" by Scott Stossell. You'll learn a lot more about this wonderful man. Okay, thanks...

NNAMDIThat was 47 years ago in 1964 when you volunteered, Peggy. What impact has this had on your life since then?

PEGGYWell, I think it made an impact on my life before that. I did come back to Washington, which I probably wouldn't have come back to unless I hadn't been on the Peace Corps. And I got involved in a lot of things in (word?) development. And I also started a small company, so -- and the people I meet are also very inspiring. It's wonderful that he spoke with all of us, and as I said, I met Sarge several times in D.C. and he was always inspiring to me. Thank you.

NNAMDIThank you so much for your call, Peggy. There's a wave of young people, Mark, traveling abroad now to volunteer through various programs, sometimes called volun-tourism. Do you see the influence of the Peace Corps there?

SCHNEIDERWell, yes and no. I think obviously the desire to reach out and to get to know other countries, yes. I think the distinction though is those programs where you have the opportunity to engage in service. That's the distinction. And particularly with the idea that you spend two years in a community and in that process you learn about the community, you become part of that community, and you engage in activities that benefit the country and the community where you are. One of the things to ask is how many millions of students around the world have been taught by Peace Corps volunteers? And how many teachers of students have been taught by Peace Corps volunteers? How many children have been immunized in programs where Peace Corps volunteers have participated as community health workers? When I was director in Africa, we required that all the 2,400 volunteers then become HIV AIDS prevention educators. Whether they're working in environment, in agriculture, small business, that was one of the things that they did, and all of those in health actively participated.

NNAMDIOn to Mumin (sp?) in Bethesda, Md. Mumin, you're on the air. Go ahead, please.

MUMINThank you for having me. Question is do you think that the government's focus on the war on terror and counterterrorism is undermining the efforts to be a force for good and helping the needy around the world as Americans?

NNAMDIMark Schneider?

SCHNEIDERI think, to some degree, you would hope that there would be a less of a need to respond to the kinds of attacks that we suffered in 9/11, less of a need to deal with terrorist organizations. And their ability to organize relates as well to the kinds of countries where they're working. And so, to some degree, to the degree that we're able to work with countries in meeting the needs of development and helping to reduce poverty, helping to strengthen government institutions that are broadly responsive to the needs of the people, I think that those terrorist organizations are less of a basis to become successful.

SCHNEIDERAnd one of the interesting things is Walter Cronkite, after 9/11, when he was asked what should the United States do in response, he said double the size of the Peace Corps. He said that would be the most effective single action to be taken. And I just want to just read one thing that Sarge said that relates to that. He wrote at one point. He said, "The road to peace is no highway. It's racked with wars, riddled with mistrust and suspicion. Ruts and potholes of poverty and ignorance are deep enough to bring Atlas to his knees. If humanity ever hopes to pave this road, it must accomplish an understanding even deeper and more durable than the world has ever known." And it's that understanding that he believed that the Peace Corps could provide.

NNAMDIThe words of Sargent Shriver, who passed yesterday at the age of 95. We're reflecting on his contributions and his life in Washington. Here is Judith in Washington, D.C. Judith, you're on the air. Go ahead, please.

JUDITHHi. Thank you. I joined the Peace Corps in 1961. One-hundred and fifty of us went to the Philippines and since then have been coming back in 1963. Our groups have sent 140 students in the Philippines to college because, really, in the -- to change poverty, we have to think of education, not only there but in our own country. Also, I got a scholarship to Cardozo High School, the Peace Corps project in 1963, and I've stayed here ever since. And then I listened to "The Kojo Nnamdi Show" at Howard University.

NNAMDIWell...

JUDITHThank you very much. And Sarge did visit us. He told us, once we came to one of the islands, he said, what are we here for? He said, I've had some tough jobs in my life, and you can just stick to it and figure it out. (laugh) Thanks for it.

NNAMDIThank you very much for sharing that with us, Judith. Sargent Shriver was, of course, involved in other human rights campaigns, Mark. What were the issues he was most passionate about?

SCHNEIDERWell, I think he was passionate about extending the opportunity of -- in other countries for individuals to see their own capacity developed and whether they were in need of special needs or not. He was totally devoted to Special Olympics, as an example. But I also knew him in relation to human rights issues in Central America through -- particularly, I think, through the church and other connections. He was very much aware of the repression that took place in El Salvador.

SCHNEIDERAnd I recall at one point, after the assassination of Archbishop Romero, we were both supposed to go to the funeral the next day. He had been invited by the church to represent Sen. Kennedy at that time. And he very much wanted to go. And the -- we actually got to the airport and, at that time, there was shooting in El Salvador at the embassy. The ambassador at the time said, you're not coming unless you go in an armored personnel carrier. Sarge said, that's not a good way to arrive. But he was always focused on human rights issues.

NNAMDIHere is Leslie in Falls Church, Va. Leslie, your turn.

LESLIEHi. It's great to be on the air. I was in the Peace Corps in Sierra Leone, Africa, in 1977 to '79. And when I came back, I brought back the message, one of those messages you bring back, and I talked about it in schools, in elementary schools, to tell other kids about it. And it was the best experience I've ever had. And it was great to be able to travel and do lots of those things. And it was just a wonderful experience. And I meet Sierra Leoneans here and they tell me how they were -- had teachers from the Peace Corps and how much it meant to them. And I think that this is a real motive for peace instead of the gun...

NNAMDIThank you...

LESLIE...like we are going into Afghanistan with it. (laugh)

NNAMDIThank you very much for your call, Leslie. Indeed, the perception of America abroad is influenced as much by American civilians as it is by the American military. Indeed, what American civilians like volunteers in the Peace Corps tend to do is to have people see another face of the United States that they are unused to, and some people find that indeed surprising. But Sargent Shriver didn't just see issues abroad that needed to be addressed. You mentioned he had a role in a lot of domestic programs here -- VISTA, Head Start, Job Corps, Legal Services, Migrant and Indian -- Indian and Migrant Opportunities, Neighborhood Health Services, all kinds of successful programs.

SCHNEIDERI mean, I think that you can say that Sarge was given every difficult task during those years and managed to carry them off with great success. He basically crafted the anti-poverty program under President Johnson. The Community Action Agencies, as you mentioned, Head Start, those all came out of the anti-poverty program, the old Office of Economic Opportunity.

NNAMDIYup, OEO.

SCHNEIDERAnd it's interesting because, at the same time, those experiences were then translated. And I'll give you one specific example, that in El Salvador, the then mayor of San Salvador, Napoleon Duarte, decided that those Community Action Agencies were a perfect mechanism to reach out into the communities in San Salvador. And he created the same Community Action Agencies where I happen to work as a volunteer.

NNAMDII'm gonna let Sue Boucher have the last comment. She's calling from Falls Church, Md. Sue Boucher, somebody who's very special to me and to us here at WAMU. Speaking of volunteerism, she used to be our volunteer coordinator here. Sue Boucher loves volunteers. Sue Boucher, your turn. You got about 40 seconds.

MS. SUE BOUCHERHi, Kojo. You know, I just wanted to say I truly feel that I received much more from my Peace Corps. It provided me the opportunity to serve the country.

NNAMDIYup. It provided you the opportunity to serve the country and, apparently, persuaded you to get a bad cell phone. We can't hear Sue Boucher anymore. Apparently, she has dropped off the line. But Sue Boucher, as I said, served in the Peace Corps, has spent a great deal of time and still travels to Africa frequently. She was in charge of our volunteers here. They loved her, we loved her, and she's always involved in a great deal of volunteer work, all clearly inspired by her participation in the Peace Corps, which was founded and formed by the late Sargent Shriver. Mark Schneider served as the 15th director of the Peace Corps. He's the senior vice president and special adviser on Latin America at the International Crisis Group. Mark, thank you so much for joining us.

SCHNEIDERThank you.

NNAMDIAnd thank you all for listening. I'm Kojo Nnamdi.