The Peace Corps Experience: Creating Global Citizens

In 1960, an impromptu remark by John F. Kennedy at a University of Michigan campaign stop planted the seed for the Peace Corps. By the time he was sworn in as president, that idea of service had worked its way into the heart of Kennedy's inaugural address. Cynical politicians grudgingly embraced the idea as a new strategy for winning hearts and minds in the Cold War. But Kennedy's idea and the vision of first Peace Corps director Sargent Shriver tapped an unprecedented idealism in America's young adults.

Two of those young people were Maureen Orth and Michael McCaskey, who served in Columbia and Ethiopia respectively. Orth has gone on to become an award-winning journalist, author, and special correspondent for Vanity Fair. McCaskey taught at Harvard and UCLA's business schools before serving as president and board chairman of the Chicago Bears. The Festival is delighted to present Orth and McCaskey in conversation as they share their experiences as early Peace Corps volunteers, their perspective on what the Peace Corps has meant to the world and to their own lives, and their take on its identity in the 21st century.

This annual lecture honors Festival supporter Doris Conant in recognition of a generous gift to the Chicago Humanities Festival by the Doris and Howard Conant Family Foundation.