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Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-ROAH-02
This interview focuses on relations with Cuba under the Kennedy Administration, the Bay of Pigs, the Cuban exile community, and the Cold War, among other things.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-RDOC-01
Campos discusses U.S.-Brazilian relations under the Brazilian presidential administrations of Jânio da Silva Quadros and João Goulart; the Alliance for Progress; Goulart’s state visit to the United States; and the Brazilian reaction to the Cuban Missile Crisis, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-JMC-01
Cabot discusses Brazil’s involvement in the Alliance for Progress, U.S. foreign policy towards Poland and Eastern Europe during the John F. Kennedy Administration, and U.S.-China relations during the Kennedy Administration, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-JUB-01
Bosch discusses coups and revolutions in Cuba, Brazil, and other Latin American countries; the United States’ relationship with the Dominican Republic; and the Alliance for Progress, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-LIG-01
Gordon discusses JFK’s interest in Latin American Affairs, functions of the ambassador position, Latin and South American politics, and Brazilian government during the time of the 1964 coup, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-RFK-03
In this interview Robert F. Kennedy [RFK] discusses the 1962 steel crisis; some major issues and accomplishments of John F. Kennedy’s [JFK] presidency; choosing the U.S. Ambassador to Russia; foreign aid and treaties; the military coup in Peru; the space race during the Kennedy Administration; the 1962 congressional and gubernatorial campaigns; JFK’s dinner for the Nobel Prize winners; the Polaris submarines; problems with the New York Herald Tribune; New York politics; various pieces of federal legislation, 1961–1963; the Dominican Republic; Department of Justice investigations under RFK; the difficulties of being Attorney General; congressional issues in early 1963; the Vietnam War escalation in 1963; American support of the coup in Vietnam; Henry Cabot Lodge as the U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam; the prisoners from the Bay of Pigs invasion; American actions in Cuba; unemployment and civil rights; RFK’s meeting with James Baldwin; JFK’s trips to the South and speeches on civil rights; the nuclear test ban treaty; and JFK’s trip to Ireland and Rome, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-DVJ-01
In this interview, Johnson discusses his role with the International Security Affairs and Agency for International Development under John F. Kennedy’s administration, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-STD-01
Dantas wrote this article for a journal in Brazil a week after President John F. Kennedy’s (JFK) death. His article reflects on JFK’s presidency and legacy, among other issues.
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-MR-2011-021
Steve Swigart served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Brazil from July 1966 to July 1968 on a lunch program project. He attended training at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. He discusses his training program and the difficulty he encountered learning Portuguese. Upon arriving in Brazil, Swigart began his work to implement lunch programs in rural areas of the country. He also talks about his relationships with the nationals, his love for Brazil, and his continued contacts with Brazilians in the United States. Interviewed and recorded by Paul Kinsley, May 31, 2011. 2 tapes (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-MR-2008-001-005
Irving Penso served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Brazil from 1968 to 1971 on a community development project. He was assigned to the town of Lagoa Dourada. After overcoming suspicion from the town's residents, who thought he and his fellow volunteer had come for their gold, Penso organized a variety of development projects including establishing a small school which still operates today. Interviewed and recorded by Amalia Stephens, February 3, 2007. 1 tape (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-MR-2007-059-001
Victor (Vic) Cox served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Brazil from 1964 to 1966 in a health and community development program. He was stationed in the small community of Camapua in the state of Mato Grosso. As a sanitation helper for the Health Ministry, Cox worked on various projects including the building of a hospital that allowed the community to secure a resident doctor, and the creation of the first newspaper for disseminating health education information and other local news. He attributes the success of these projects to the local Brazilians. Interviewed and recorded by Barbara Hodgdon, July 15, 2007. 2 tapes (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-MR-2007-018-002
Wilson K. Mason served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Brazil from 1966 to 1968 in an urban community development project. He served alongside his wife Gwen. The couple trained at Experiment in International Living in Vermont, including a three week field experience in Scranton, Pennsylvania. They were assigned to a small rural town in northeast Brazil and worked through the local schools on a variety of projects. Wilson was also involved with development of small scale garden farms. After some local conflict, the Masons were reassigned in the second year to a larger city and continued their teaching and small scale agriculture projects. Interviewed and recorded by Robert Klein, December 7, 2006. 2 tapes (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-MR-2006-056
Ronald L. Weber served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Brazil from 1964 to 1967 in urban planning. Interviewed and recorded by Robyn Michaels, April 29, 2006. 1 tape (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-MR-2005-025-021
Sandra (Sandy) Sefton joined the Peace Corps with her husband. They trained at Marquette University with an emphasis on language skills. Sandra and her husband were sent to Brazil as community health volunteers and spent three months in-country training in a hospital setting to become indoctrinated to the culture, traditions, and customs of Brazil. Among Sandra's achievements was the creation of flip charts telling stories on health and cleanliness to children, starting a future nurses club to encourage young adults to enter the health field, and the introduction of a water filtering system to be used in the home. Interviewed and recorded by Ernest Zaremba, August 21, 2004. 2 tapes (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-MR-2005-010
Emilie Roy Corey served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Brazil from 1964 to 1966 on a public health project. She discusses training in Vermont and life in Brazil. Interviewed and recorded by Joan Kane Boyle, June 8, 2004. 1 tape.
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-MR-2004-010-001
Carol Peiffer talks about her experiences as a Peace Corps teacher in Brazil. Interviewed and recorded by Judith Salisbury Cline, May 29, 2003. 1 tape (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-MR-2004-003-004
(David) Scott Ellinwood worked as a Peace Corps volunteer in Brazil on housing project designs for the Poiraiba state government. He took up a career in architecture afterwards. Interviewed and recorded by Victor (Vic) Cox, April 21, 2003. 2 tapes (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-MR-2002-016-017
Terry Vogt served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Brazil working on rural electrification. Vogt was part of a specially recruited group from Harvard University. They did language training in Portuguese while still undergraduates, and completed in-country training in community development. The flexibility of his assignments reflects the huge number of Peace Corps volunteers stationed in Brazil. Interviewed and recorded by Robert Klein, February 5, 2002. 1 tape (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-MR-2002-001-003
Pamela Lopes served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Brasilia, Brazil, at an urban community development and social services foundation. She later became the Country Co-Director for Brazil (1978-1980). Interviewed and recorded by Robert Klein, October 13, 2001. 2 tapes (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2019-002
Alan Dockterman served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in northeast Brazil from 1968 to 1970. He discusses his opposition to the Vietnam War as a primary motivation for joining the Peace Corps. He also talks about attrition during his group training in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Brazil. As a lawyer and an accountant, Dockterman was first placed with Fecompipe, a federation of mixed cooperatives in Vicencia in the state of Pernambuco. (The U.S. invested heavily in co-ops as a counter-communist measure during this time.) He discusses his frustration with feeling isolated in this small city and the lack of impact he had during this assignment. He talks about his much more positive social and professional experience working with a legal aid program in the city of Fortaleza in Seara state during the second year. Dockterman also reflects on the positive impact Peace Corps service had on his personal and professional life and the many returned volunteers who have gone on to work in USAID, the State Department, and other international organizations. Interviewed and recorded by Evelyn Ganzglass, August 13, 2018. 2 digital audio files (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2018-033
John Klima served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Somalia from 1962 to 1964, and in Brazil from 1971 to 1973. He met his wife, Emily, a fellow volunteer, during Peace Corps training and they got married secretly during their service in Somalia. Later as a married couple with three young children, they reenlisted and the family was sent to Brazil. While Somalia was a positive experience, Brazil was not. Klima served as an intermediary school math and science teacher in Amoud, Somalia, near the Ethiopian border. He describes how his Somalia I group was terminated a month early because of security concerns during the 1964 border conflict between Ethiopia and Somalia, and says he was accused by his students of being a CIA spy because of what Egyptian teachers had told them. He also discusses problems with the Peace Corps staff in Somalia that resulted in staff being fired and 4 volunteers being reassigned. Regarding his service as a lab technician in Recife, Brazil, Klima says that even though the Peace Corps allowed volunteers with families to join, the agency did not provide adequate support for his young family, which by then included 3 young boys; therefore his wife, who was supposed to be a volunteer, couldn't work and had to stay home with the children. Klima also questions whether the Peace Corps should have been propping up sugar cane growers that exploited their workers. Interviewed and recorded by Evelyn Ganzglass, 2 July 2018. 2 digital audio files (web streaming fiels combined into 1 file). [Correction: In the interview, Klima states that Herman Smith replaced Marshall Tyree, but after the interview he remembered that Herman Smith was Tyree's deputy. Sal Tedesco was the new director stationed in Mogadiscio, the capital of Somalia.]
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2020-026
Norman Graham served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Brazil from August 1964 to August 1966 as a prison social worker. Prior to the Peace Corps, he had completed a degree in social work with a minor in criminology and an internship at a federal prison. Graham attended training at New York University (and in Rio de Janeiro) with a group of nurses. His technical preparation focused on health care and Portuguese. Graham lived in a satellite town outside of the new half-built capital, Brasilia, where he started a program in the local penitentiary (100-120 inmates) to show films on health care, literacy, mathematics, and Brazilian history. He then started a library, added carpentry training, ran a dispensary, and arranged for doctors to visit the prison. Graham also volunteered at the local boys' school. Interviewed and recorded by Randolph (Randy) Adams, August 22, 2019. 1 digital audio file.