Contemporary Authors

• Kill the Gringo: The Life of Jack Vaughn―American diplomat, Director of the Peace Corps, US ambassador to Colombia and Panama, and conservationist - 2017 Rare Bird Books, Los Angeles, CA

• Wikipedia -

  Jack Vaughn
  From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  For the American record producer, see Jack Vaughn Jr.
  Jack Vaughn
  Jack Vaughn.jpg
  Jack Vaughn, the second Director of the Peace Corps, (center) with C. Payne Lucas, President Emeritus of Africare, (left) on May 4, 2007
  Born Jack Hood Vaughn
  August 18, 1920
  Columbus, Montana, United States
  Died October 29, 2012 (aged 92)
  Tucson, Arizona, United States
  Occupation Director of United States Peace Corps
  Children Jack Vaughn Jr.
  Jack Hood Vaughn (August 18, 1920 – October 29, 2012)[1] was the second Director of the United States Peace Corps succeeding Sargent Shriver. Vaughn was appointed Peace Corps Director in 1966 by President Lyndon Johnson and was the first Republican to head the agency.

  Contents [hide]
  1 Early life and education
  1.1 Boxing career
  1.2 Marine Officer in World War II
  2 State Department career
  2.1 USIA and USAID
  2.2 Peace Corps Staff
  2.3 Ambassador to Panama
  2.4 Assistant Secretary of State
  3 Peace Corps Director
  3.1 Senate Approval and Swearing In
  3.2 Environmental Focus
  3.3 Problems in Nigeria
  3.4 Program Improvements
  3.5 Peace Corps and the Vietnam War
  3.6 Peace Corps and the Draft
  3.7 Non-Partisan Support for the Peace Corps
  4 Ambassador to Colombia
  5 Post Government Activities
  5.1 Head of National Urban Coalition, Planned Parenthood
  5.2 Confirmation Hearings for Gaddi Vasquez
  5.3 Continued Support for the Peace Corps
  6 Personal life
  7 Citations
  8 External links
  Early life and education[edit]
  Vaughn was born in Columbus, Montana in 1920, the son of Elijah H. Vaughn and Blair (Cox) Vaughn.[2] Vaughn grew up in Montana where his father managed a retail store and eventually owned the Vaughn and Ragsdale stores.[3] Vaughn moved with his family to Albion, Michigan in 1931 where his father managed a chain of clothing stores in Michigan and Montana.[3][4] Vaughn attended Albion Public Schools and graduated from Albion High School in 1939.[2] Vaughn earned a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Michigan in 1943.[4]

  Boxing career[edit]
  Vaughn became interested in boxing as a youth and would spar with local boxers on the third floor of his father's building in Albion, Michigan where a makeshift gymnasium was located.[2] By age 14 Vaughn was boxing publicly in "smokers."[3] "Everyone was smoking Roi-Tan cigars," says Vaughn.[3] "We were fighting in a purple haze. It was $5 if you won, $3 if you didn't. The events featured three or four semi-pro boxing matches and one fairly professional striptease. If there was no striptease, they brought in the wrestlers."[3] Vaughn was a Golden Gloves boxer[5] and won three Golden Gloves championships.[4] Vaughn would sometimes box in Detroit[3] where he worked occasionally as a sparring partner for notable prizefighters, including Sugar Ray Robinson, Jake LaMotta, Willie Pep and Sandy Saddler.[6]

  Vaughn began fighting professionally in 1942[3] under the name of "Johnny Hood."[7] "I was bumming around Mexico one summer when I ran out of money," Vaughn said.[7] "I decided I would take my boxing and turn pro, but I didn't know enough Spanish at the time to tell whether the agent said I would get 60 pesos for four rounds or four pesos for 60 rounds. You can guess which figure was correct."[7] Vaughn fought 26 featherweight bouts as a professional.[7] Vaughn tells the story that the first time he fought professionally in Mexico, the fans cheered enthusiastically but he couldn't make out what they were saying and he thought they were cheering him on.[5] It was only later that he learned that what the fans were shouting was "Kill the Gringo!"[5] "My first fight was down in Juarez," says Vaughn.[3] I was in the first of a four-round preliminary match. My second was a high school kid from El Paso. The crowd began to shout, 'Mata al Gringo!' I asked my second what they were saying. He said, 'I think they're saying, "Welcome to Juarez." A week later I found out what that meant."[3] Mata al Gringo! later became the title for Vaughn's unpublished memoirs.[5] Vaughn was the head boxing coach at University of Michigan from 1942 to 1943[4] and also taught Spanish, French and Latin American affairs while he was at the University of Michigan.[4]

  Marine Officer in World War II[edit]
  During World War II , Vaughn served as an officer in the United States Marine Corps as a rifle company commander and a combat intelligence officer from 1942 to 1946.[5] Vaughn saw combat in Eniwetok, Guam, and Okinawa.[5] Vaughn left the Marines with the rank of captain.[5] Vaughn earned the Purple Heart during his service.[3] "I was wounded three times, all in the rear end," says Vaughn.[3]

  After returning from World War II, Vaughn earned a Master of Arts in 1947 in Romance Languages[3] from the University of Michigan[4] and a Masters in economics.[3] Vaughn taught Spanish, French and Latin American affairs while he was at the University of Michigan[4] and was also the head boxing coach.[4] "I wanted to be a professor of French literature," says Vaughn.[3] Vaughn continued fighting to earn extra money while he worked at the University of Michigan.[3] "I ended up losing the sight in my right eye in 1948," says Vaughn.[3] "So in 1949, I went to the State Department."[3]

  State Department career[edit]
  USIA and USAID[edit]
  Vaughn joined the US Information Agency (USIA) in 1949 as director of the bi-national center in La Paz, Bolivia and later moved to Costa Rica with the USIA.[7] Vaughn joined the State Department in 1951[5] and spent 1951 to 1956 in Panama with the State Department.[8] While working for the State Department in the 1950s Vaughn met several times with Che Guevara.[3] "I met him seven or eight times. Each time I liked him less," says Vaughn.[3] "My final meeting, I gave him a University of Michigan T-shirt. He wore it backwards."[3] From 1959 to 1961 Vaughn was the USAID Mission director for Senegal, Mali, and Mauritania.[9] Vaughn's background growing up on a ranch in Montana helped him in his work with USAID where he worked in "mainly agricultural reform. I had a lot of training," says Vaughn.[3]

  Peace Corps Staff[edit]
  Vaughn's connection with the Peace Corps began in 1961 when Peace Corps founding director Sargent Shriver came to Senegal where Vaughn was serving with USAID.[3] "There were 4,000 volunteers signing up a day for the Peace Corps, and countries weren't asking for them. So Shriver came over to meet the Senegalese," says Vaughn.[3] "I was the only one who spoke French. I went up to meet Shriver and his lawyer in their hotel room. They did not have on a stitch of clothing. We all sat down and had a conversation. They said they had never seen heat like that. It was 120 degrees and no air conditioning."[3] Vaughn's boxing prowess and prior experience as a prize fighter paid off when Sargent Shriver decided to recruit Vaughn.[6] "I was recruited by Sargent Shriver because I had been in the ring with Sugar Ray Robinson," Vaughn said.[6] "He loves jocks."[6] Coates Redmond described Vaughn as "barely medium height, slight of build, with ginger-colored hair and a 1940s moustache to match, quietly spoken and careful of gesture" in her history of the early years of the Peace Corps, Come As You Are.[10] Before his appointment to the Peace Corps, Vaughn met with President Kennedy who didn't like Vaughn's mustache and told him he would have to shave it off if he wanted to work in the Peace Corps.[5] Vaughn refused to shave the mustache but got the appointment anyway.[5]

  Vaughn joined the Peace Corps staff because "the Peace Corps idea had a great appeal to me. And the people I knew who were putting this idea into effect appealed to me even more."[7] Shriver admired Vaughn's courage and felt anyone who would brave the ring with Sugar Ray Robinson would have the grit to fight for the Peace Corps in Latin America so when the Peace Corps decided to send volunteers to teach in Venezuela in 1963 despite the presence of Castro communists, Shriver made Vaughn his point man.[6] "Shriver said, 'Show them your teeth, not your tail,'" Vaughn said.[6] "Those teachers did great there. I'm sure it was his finest moment in the Peace Corps."[6]

  Vaughn served as the Latin-American director of the Peace Corps from October, 1961 to April, 1964.[7][11] When Vaughn came to the Peace Corps there were only 78 volunteers serving in Latin America.[7] By the time he left after two-and-a half years in the position, there were 2,500 volunteers working in rural and urban development in Latin America.[7] Vaughn left the Peace Corps in 1964 to return to the State Department.[11]

  Ambassador to Panama[edit]
  US Ambassador to Panama Joseph S. Farland resigned in August, 1963 leaving the United States without an ambassador for several months.[12] The New York Times printed a story on January 10, 1964 criticizing the administration for leaving the post vacant and saying the vacancy had contributed to anti-American riots in Panama.[12] "The absence of an American Ambassador was an invitation to the Communists to raise the devil," said Senator George D. Aiken, Republican of Vermont.[12] "They have been waiting for this chance."[12]

  President Johnson named Vaughn US Ambassador to Panama in 1964 after the two nations broke off diplomatic relations[4] because of nationalistic rioting in Panama.[11] The Senate approved Vaughn's appointment on April 7, 1964.[13] Vaughn arrived in Panama on April 17, 1964 to take up the post of Ambassador, now vacant for six months.[14] His arrival was welcomed by Panamanians who knew and liked Vaughn from his previous work in Panama with the US AID mission.[14] Vaughn had previously arranged for about 1,000 young Panamanians to go to the United States for post-graduate study.[14] In the airport lounge, ten young Panamanians unfurled a 25-foot (7.6 m) long sign greeting Vaughn.[14] "Jack, the scholarship holders remember your work and greet you," the sign read.[14]

  In the book The Negotiations Regarding the Panama Canal by Omar Jaen Suarez, Vaughn is given great credit for defusing the tensions between the two countries and starting the United States and Panama on the road to successfully negotiating the Panama Canal Treaty.[8] “I lived here in a successful and comfortable way, dedicated to agricultural activities and as I was not a member of the U.S. military, I understood that now was the moment to change the relation, the cut of the pie, that Panama was receiving for the Canal” Vaughn said speaking of his time in Panama in the early 1950s.[8] After Vaughn became ambassador to Panama, it was difficult for Vaughn to convince the US government to offer concessions because the Vietnam War was going on at the time.[8] "It was a time of total war when the Pentagon was thinking of nothing else, like revising agreements or other annoyances like these, because they needed the military bases for training the troops," Vaughn said.[8]

  Vaughn's efforts were fruitful.[15] On December 19, 1964 President Johnson made an address to the Panamanian people proposing the negotiation of an entirely new treaty on the Panama Canal.[15] "In these new proposals we will take every possible step to deal fairly and to deal helpfully with the citizens of both Panama and of the United States who have served so faithfully through the years in operating and maintaining the Panama Canal," said Johnson.[15] Although Vaughn takes no credit for President Carter's efforts beginning in 1977 to complete negotiations for a new Panama Canal treaty, Vaughn's early initiatives to reach an understanding with Panama paved the way for Carter's negotiations later.[8]

  Assistant Secretary of State[edit]
  On February 12, 1965 President Johnson named Vaughn[11] Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs and the United States coordinator of the Alliance for Progress.[4] The bureau was the single largest unit in the State Department with more than 600 employees in Washington and 2,000 more abroad.[7] Vaughn was in charge of relations with the twenty Latin-American republics as well as Jamaica, Trinidad, and British Guinea.[16] Vaughn's responsibilities included managing the Alliance for Progress and the office dealing with the Organization of American States.[16] Vaughn also carried the title of United States Coordinator for the Alliance for Progress.[16]

  Vaughn promoted a Peace Corps-style approach to diplomacy.[7] "If I had my way, every young foreign service officer who now spends his early career stamping visas would be forced to put in two years with the Peace Corps or two years in private business as a salesman or an assistant assembly line foreman," said Vaughn.[7] "Anything that would teach them how to deal with people and get along with them."[7]

  On September 4, 1965, the New York Times reported that Vaughn had just completed a two-week trip to Latin America and returned with an enthusiastic report for President Johnson on the Alliance for Progress.[17] Vaughn expressed his conviction that a "new and bright chapter" was starting in the partnership between Latin America and the United States.[17] "Not long ago the people of Latin America were still doubtful about the goals of the alliance," Vaughn said.[17] Today it is a reality that is marching better than I thought and it is a reality because our partnership is solid, enduring and expanding."[17] During his trip, Vaughn talked with hundreds of workers and peasants and with the leaders of Mexico, El Salvador, Panama, Ecuador, Chile, Bolivia, and Peru.[17] Vaughn was warmly received during his trip and was praised by Chilean President Eduardo Frei Montalva who expressed gratitude for US economic assistance that he said was "decisive" for the solution of Chile's economic problems.[17]

  Peace Corps Director[edit]

  Peace Corps Director Jack Vaughn meets with reporters and answers questions in fluent Spanish in Honduras in February 1969. From the Peace Corps Volunteer magazine May, 1969.
  When Johnson picked Sargent Shriver to head up his "War on Poverty" in 1966, Vaughn was named Peace Corps director.[6] "It was so good, so positive," Vaughn said of his appointment.[6] "As a former bureaucrat, to join the Peace Corps was pure joy. All the stuff I knew we shouldn't do, we didn't do. All the things we should do, we did efficiently, effectively and cheaply."[6]

  Vaughn was appointed Peace Corps Director on February 16, 1966.[5] Vaughn was in a bar at 12:30 on M Street in Georgetown when the bar telephone rang and the bartender asked, "Is there a Mr. Jack Vaughn here?"[5] Vaughn answered yes the bartender says, "it's someone who says he's the president of the United States."[5] "Let me finish this drink," replied Vaughn taking his time before picking up the phone and saying hello.[5] On the line was President Lyndon Baines Johnson himself. "Vaughn," said LBJ.[5] "How would you like to be the director of the Peace Corps?"[5] "Mr. President," Vaughn replied calmly, "I thought you'd never ask."[5]

  Senate Approval and Swearing In[edit]
  The Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved Vaughn's appointment as Peace Corps Director 12 to 1 with Wayne Morse, Democrat of Oregon opposing Vaughn.[18] In the same committee meeting Morse was also the sole vote against Lincoln Gordon to succeed Vaughn as Assistant Secretary for Inter-American Affairs.[18] During the hearings Senator Laushe of Ohio asked Vaughn about reports that some Peace Corps volunteers did not dress properly.[19] "Don't you have many of what you call the 'mustache people' around?" asked the Senator.[19] The Senate hearing room burst into laughter as did Laushe when he realized what he had said to the mustached Vaughn.[19] "That's the meanest thing you ever said to me, Senator," replied Vaughn.[19]

  "The Peace Corps is the point of the lance," said Vaughn on February 28, 1966 in his first interview after his Senate confirmation as Director.[20] "In Latin America, it is the human cutting edge of the Alliance for Progress, the focus of ideas and people in action. In other countries also we are finally beginning to deal with the real problems of the day - peace and poverty and war and changing attitudes and hatred."[20]

  Vaughn was sworn in as Peace Corps Director at a White House ceremony[21] by President Lyndon Johnson on March 1, 1966, the fifth anniversary of the founding of the Peace Corps.[22] "Jack Vaughn I first met out in a little fishing village in Africa, but he, like Sargent Shriver, I observed on that first meeting, is a disciple of peace," said President Johnson.[22] "His life has been spent in the service of the cause of peace. This is the third job that I have asked Jack Vaughn to take since I met him in that fishing village in 1961. Each of these jobs he has served with great distinction."[21][22]

  Vaughn said that his first task as Director would be to visit Peace Corps programs around the world, meet staff members and volunteers and explain his plans.[20] Vaughn meant that literally and started at the top of the 12-story Peace Corps Headquarters building to personally meet and shake hands with every employee.[19] "I want to help build on this image and bask in your collected glory," said Vaughn.[19] "I'm pleased to be with you."[19] During his first month as director, Vaughn gave an estimated 60 speeches, visited 15 college campuses to recruit volunteers and traveled overseas with visits to Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, India, and Thailand.[23]

  Environmental Focus[edit]
  One of Vaughn's most lasting contributions to the Peace Corps was to redirect the Peace Corps' focus to environmental issues.[6] Vaughn first became interested in 1963 when he met a volunteer in Chile named Duty Green.[6] "Duty Green was a forester, and he went to Chile with a commitment to plant a million trees," Vaughn said.[6] "When his tour was almost over, he sent me a message saying, 'I'm very sorry. I've only been able to plant 900,000 trees in my time here. Can you extend my stay?' Here was a guy who would never say, 'What am I doing here?' He could look at a forest and know it was there because of his efforts. This is what we should have been doing - have them plant a tree, clean up a stream," Vaughn said.[6] "That was the explosion of awareness that changed the Peace Corps, because I wised up and still had time to do something about it. Those generalists, with no prior technical training, could be trained to do a beautiful job in just 10 weeks to turn wasteland into forest, to run nurseries, to do earth dam construction and supervision. It's a wonderful and satisfying job for a volunteer," Vaughn said.[6]

  Problems in Nigeria[edit]
  The New York Times reported on October 6, 1966 that Vaughn had left for Africa to investigate an unusually large number of complaints by Peace Corps Volunteers regarding their living allowances and working conditions in Nigeria.[24] Vaughn's itinerary included stops in Senegal, Nigeria, and Liberia to inspect Peace Corps operations in the three countries.[24] Complaints in Nigeria included closing the Peace Corps hostels intended for use by Peace Corps Volunteers on vacations or free weekends, a $19 cut in volunteers' $147 monthly living allowance to reflect the monthly pay of local Nigerians for work comparable to that done by volunteers, and a reduction in the number of motorbikes allocated for volunteers for official travel "in the Nigerian bush country."[24] Vaughn traveled to Nigeria and spent three weeks traveling the country to meet in small groups with about 600 of the 699 volunteers in country to re-establish "a missing dialogue" between Volunteers and Washington Staff.[25]

  Vaughn cut to the crux of the matter when he met with Peace Corps Staff in Nigeria.[26] "I never get letters of complaint from Volunteers who are busy doing something," Vaughn said, "who are teaching thirty hours a week."[26] Vaughn thought that too many volunteers were more concerned with proposed reductions in the living allowances, vehicle restrictions, and the closing of hostels than with the work they had come to do.[26] "Stay where the Nigerians stay," said Vaughn.[26] "The Peace Corps is not in the hotel business. Forget the motorbikes the Peace Corps gave you in a period of misguided generosity. Travel with the Africans or better yet stay in your town and get to know the people rather than escaping on weekends to visit other volunteers."[26] Vaughn traveled with two reporters from the "Peace Corps Volunteer" magazine, a monthly magazine that went out to Peace Corps Volunteers worldwide.[25] The December, 1966 issue of "Peace Corps Volunteer" contained a report on Vaughn's trip and the issues in Nigeria.[25]

  Program Improvements[edit]
  The weaknesses in the Nigeria program confirmed Vaughn's worst suspicions about the need to improve the quality of Peace Corps programs.[26] "We've got to do better on recruitment, in administration, orchestration, and approach," said Vaughn.[19] Vaughn's biggest contribution to the Peace Corps was the effort he put into making program development in the field and program review and evaluation at Washington Headquarters into a professional process.[26] One of Vaughn's first actions, taken in March, 1966, was to create the Peace Corps' Office of Planning and Program Review.[23] Vaughn spent two years reappraising overseas operations, administration, training, and selection and created a more efficient programming mechanism.[26] Vaughn made sure that the emphasis was shifted in the Peace Corps from how many volunteers were working to what the volunteers were doing and how well were they doing it.[26]

  Peace Corps and the Vietnam War[edit]
  When Vaughn appeared at the University of Wisconsin–Madison on March 11, 1966 about 150 protesters interrupted his speech three times.[27] The protesters included members of the local chapters of the "Committee to End the War in Vietnam" and the Students for a Democratic Society.[27] Many volunteers also disagreed with United States policy during the Vietnam war, and some members of Congress thought that volunteers should be required to support United States policy while they were serving overseas.[28] Vaughn defended the rights of Peace Corps volunteers.[28] "[Secretary of State] Dean Rusk has said repeatedly that Peace Corps volunteers are not a part of United States foreign policy," said Vaughn in testimony before Congress.[28] Representative Otto Passman said that Vaughn should either resign or be dismissed because he would not require volunteers to support foreign policy, especially Vietnam.[28]

  However, dissent had its limits for Peace Corps volunteers.[29] In 1967 Bruce Murray, a Peace Corps Volunteer serving in Chile, helped draw up a petition that called for a cessation of the bombing of North Vietnam and immediate negotiations for peace. Murray said his petition was for publication in the New York Times.[29] The petition was never published in the Times.[29] Murray allegedly translated the petition to Spanish and gave it to "El Sur," a Chilean newspaper.[29] Ralph Dungan, the US ambassador to Chile at the time, said the petition was a "clear violation" of standard State Department procedures and that volunteers had been cautioned about limiting their modes of expressing their opinion.[29] Dungan told volunteers to voice their views to their Congressmen or to the President.[29] Murray was dismissed from the Peace Corps for violating State Department regulations governing political conduct overseas.[29] On July 19, 1967 Vaughn clarified Peace Corps policy on writing letters to newspapers on political issues and said that volunteers could now identify themselves as Peace Corps volunteers in letters to newspapers.[30] The old policy permitted identification by name only.[30] The new policy would not have made any difference in the discharge of Murray because his activities involved the use of a newspaper in a host country.[30]

  One of the fallouts of the anti-government stance of many young people was a decline in applications to join the Peace Corps.[31] A Harris poll conducted with college students in 1968 found that "One-quarter of the seniors agree that 'a lot of people who might have joined the Peace Corps a few years ago are staying away because of their opposition to United States policy in Vietnam."[31] "An increasing number of people are saying, 'since we do not or have not been able to solve our own problems, perhaps we had better focus more attention and resources on our own problems at home before we continue our effort to save the world,'" said Vaughn.[31]

  Peace Corps and the Draft[edit]
  Former US Marine Officer Vaughn[5] took an active role in seeking deferments for Peace Corps Volunteers subject to the draft.[32] "We have a serious situation," said Vaughn.[32] "The problem of induction notices to overseas volunteers in becoming a major concern for us. Pulling a volunteer off a productive job at midtour is unfair to the nation, to the host country, the Peace Corps, and the individual."[32] Even though service in the Peace Corps did not relieve a male volunteer of his military obligation, some Selective Service Boards had granted deferments for the two years of voluntary service as being in the national interest.[32] After 25 volunteers were called home for induction and Vaughn said he would take an active role in seeking deferments before the Presidential Appeal Board - the court of last resort for draft reclassification.[32]

  Non-Partisan Support for the Peace Corps[edit]
  As a lifelong Republican appointed to head the Peace Corps by a Democratic President, Vaughn exemplified the non-partisan basis of the Peace Corps and the support the agency had from both political parties.[33] Vaughn recounted how he had met with Republican Senator Barry Goldwater, the conservative candidate for President in 1964, at a senior staff meeting.[33] "After serious questioning on what Kennedy's new agency was all about, Arizona's Goldwater swore that the Peace Corps embodied virtually every one of the most noble aspects and values of the Republican Party," wrote Vaughn.[33]

  Ambassador to Colombia[edit]
  When Richard Nixon became president in 1969, Vaughn found himself out of a job.[6] One report says that Vaughn was asked by Nixon's Secretary of State William P. Rogers to stay on as Peace Corps director to emphasize the nonpolitical nature of the Peace Corps.[34] Instead, Vaughn was informed in March, 1969, that he would be replaced after all[34] and reports that Vaughn had been asked to stay on as Peace Corps Director in the Nixon administration were reported in the media to be untrue.[35] "I was the first bureaucrat Nixon fired when he took office," Vaughn said.[6] "But when he found out I was a Republican, he asked me if I'd be his ambassador to Colombia."[6]

  On May 2, 1969, President Nixon announced the appointment of Vaughn as Ambassador to Colombia.[36] No major diplomatic initiatives took place with Colombia during Vaughn's ambassadorship there. Vaughn saw his role more as a "good will ambassador" and made many efforts to help the United States be seen in a positive light. For example, while Ambassador to Colombia, Vaughn, a former boxer, refereed boxing matches for the flyweight, lightweight, and middleweight finals in the Colombian National amateur championships held in Cartagena.[37] Vaughn held a license to referee professional fights in the United States and so as a courtesy, Colombia granted Vaughn a reciprocal license to referee in Colombia.[37] Vaughn noted that one difference from the United States is that the referee in Colombia is not allowed to touch the fighters when calling on them to break a clinch.[37] Vaughn stopped the lightweight match with only 41 seconds to go in the final round to have a doctor examine a cut over one fighter's eye and the fight was stopped.[37] Vaughn is said to be the only US diplomat to referee a fight while serving as Ambassador and declared that he was much impressed with the caliber of the fighters in Colombia.[37]

  Vaughn announced his resignation as Ambassador to Colombia on June 11, 1970 to return to private life.[38] It was reported in the New York Times that Vaughn was leaving because he was in disagreement with Nixon's Latin American policies.[38] However, a State Department spokesman said the Vaughn was resigning "for personal reasons" adding that "There is no disagreement over policy."[38]

  Post Government Activities[edit]
  Head of National Urban Coalition, Planned Parenthood[edit]
  On October 8, 1970 Vaughn was named President of the National Urban Coalition replacing John W. Gardner, former Secretary of Health Education and Welfare.[39] Vaughn's responsibilities as chief executive officer of the organization were to run day-to-day operations of the coalition's chapters in 48 cities in the United States.[39] From 1972 to 1975 Vaughn was Dean of International Studies at Florida International University in Miami, Florida.[9] From 1972 to 1975[9] Vaughn was named to head the overseas development staff for Children's Television Workshop, a unit of National Educational Television, producers of Sesame Street and The Electric Company.[40] Vaughn was President of Planned Parenthood[4] from 1974 to 1975.[41] From 1977 to 1979 Vaughn was Vice-President of Development and Resource Corporation for Iran.[9][dead link] From 1979 to 1980 Vaughn was Assistant Administrator for Latin America Designate for USAID.[9] From 1980 to 1982 Vaughn was President of Pierce Energy Corporation.[9] From 1983 to 1986 Vaughn was Vice-President, Private Sector Projects for Development Associates.[9] From 1986 to 1988 Vaughn was Vice-President, Government Relations and Finance for Conservation International.[9] Vaughn was chairman of Ecotrust,[4] a conservation organization committed to strengthening communities and the environment.[42]

  Confirmation Hearings for Gaddi Vasquez[edit]
  Vaughn opposed the George W. Bush's nomination of Gaddi Vasquez to become Peace Corps Director in 2001.[5] "As they say on the racing tout sheet for a horse that is not in the running: 'Nothing to recommend,'" Vaughn said.[6] "He has little experience . . . and little to indicate that he understands how to run the Peace Corps or any international organization. It's clearly a political payoff, and it would be a shame to see him approved."[6] As a Republican it pained Vaughn to have to oppose a nominee by a Republican President, but Vaughn came to Washington on his own and appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to speak out against the appointment of Vasquez.[5] However Vasquez cleared the United States Senate Foreign Relations committee by a vote of 14-4,[43] and was accepted in the full Senate on a voice vote.[44]

  Continued Support for the Peace Corps[edit]
  On February 28, 2008 Vaughn published an op-ed in the Tucson Citizen supporting expansion of the Peace Corps and defending the relevance of the Peace Corps in today's world.[33] "What the Peace Corps set out as its goals in 1961 coincides almost exactly with what most of our presidential candidates in 2008 have promised to seek at home, e.g. bringing real change, better health care, improved environmental protection, peace by means other than bludgeoning, burnishing the U.S. image abroad (an area in which the Peace Corps has no rival), promoting nonpartisan solutions, better education at all levels, with a major focus on helping the poor and disadvantaged," wrote Vaughn.[33] "Is there a chance our next president, having talked the Peace Corps talk so faithfully and so long, will be able to stay real and walk the Peace Corps walk (while increasing the Peace Corps budget)?"[33]

  Personal life[edit]
  Vaughn's first marriage to the former Joanne Cordes Smith ended in divorce.[45] Vaughn married Margaret Anne Weld on October 21, 1970.[45] Weld had served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Chad and was on Vaughn's personal staff when he was Director of the Peace Corps.[45] Weld, known by her nickname "Leftie,"[3] was later on the public affairs staff at Peace Corps Headquarters in Washington.[45] He is the father of Kathryn Vaughn Tolstoy and Carol Blair Vaughn by his first wife and Jack Hood Vaughn, Jr. and Jane Vaughn Constantineau with his second wife.

  In 1988 Vaughn made headlines while visiting New York City when Vaughn, then 67, defended himself during an attempted mugging[3] as Vaughn left his hotel in midtown Manhattan after midnight to get a newspaper.[46] Former professional prizefighter Vaughn hit the would-be mugger in the jaw leaving the mugger face down on the sidewalk.[3] "This fellow came up behind me, put his arm around my waist, pinned my right arm to my side, and tried to remove my wallet," says Vaughn.[46] "I hit him in the throat with my elbow. Then I kneed him in the groin and hit him in the jaw about five times. He was jackknifed on his face on the sidewalk as I walked away."[46] "On several occasions I've had to straighten people out," Vaughn added.[3]

  In 1992 Vaughn and his wife moved to Tucson.[3] Vaughn, at 87, still kept in shape by shadow boxing and running in place.[3] "I have an unbelievable left hook," says Vaughn.[46] "Sometimes I shadow box, pretending I'm hitting certain politicians."[46]

  Vaughn's son, also named Jack Vaughn, is a record producer who has run his own label, Slimstyle Records, and now heads Comedy Central's record label.[47][48] In a 2006 story in the Wall Street Journal, Vaughn said that since 2002, Comedy Central Records have gradually increased to about 10 releases a year.[48] "We make money on 80% to 90% of our releases," Vaughn says.[48] Industry insiders call this a good percentage since most new releases in the music industry lose money.[48] The younger Vaughn went to high school in Guatemala while his father was a diplomat working there.[47] "It was a terrific cultural experience, but for a teen-ager with Embassy restrictions, it was boring and dangerous," said the younger Vaughn.[47]

  Jack Vaughn died at his home in Tucson on October 29, 2012, following a bout of cancer. He was 92.[49]

• New York Times - http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/02/us/jack-hood-vaughn-60s-peace-corps-leader-dies.html

  Jack Hood Vaughn, Who Led Peace Corps in ’60s, Dies at 92
  By DENNIS HEVESINOV. 1, 2012

  Continue reading the main storyShare This Page
  Share
  Tweet
  Email
  More
  Save
  Photo

  Jack Hood Vaughn, left, with President Johnson and Sargent Shriver in 1966. Credit United Press International
  Jack Hood Vaughn, who led the Peace Corps at the height of its volunteer enrollment in the late 1960s, died on Monday at his home in Tucson. He was 92.

  The cause was cancer, his daughter Jane Constantineau said.

  President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed Mr. Vaughn as the second director of the Peace Corps in 1966, after the five-year tenure of R. Sargent Shriver, the driving force in the creation of the corps during the Kennedy administration. Under Mr. Vaughn, the number of volunteers rose from approximately 12,000 to more than 15,500 — the most in the corp’s history — serving in more than 50 countries. There are now about 8,000 volunteers in 76 countries.

  The current acting director of the Peace Corps, Carrie Hessler-Radelet, met Mr. Vaughn last year at a celebration of its 50th anniversary. “He was still a passionate voice for peace and eloquent about the Peace Corps’ ability to build bridges to other nations through service,” she said.

  To Hugh Pickens, a former volunteer in Peru and the creator of peacecorpsonline.org, a Web site dedicated to the corps’ history, “Vaughn’s importance is second only to Sargent Shriver’s, because he set the tone, through his outreach to Republican members of Congress, for the Peace Corps to receive bipartisan support over the past 50 years.”

  Some politicians were originally hostile to the concept of the corps, especially during the Vietnam War. “The Peace Corps is no haven for draft dodgers,” Mr. Vaughn responded in 1966. Its volunteers, he said, are “second to no other Americans” in performing service to the nation.

  Continue reading the main story
  ADVERTISEMENT

  Continue reading the main story

  Under Mr. Vaughn, Time magazine reported in 1967: “A team of corpsmen installed the University of Malaya’s first electronic computer; one is a game warden in Ethiopia; Gerald Brown conducts Bolivia’s National Symphony Orchestra, and Lynn Meena’s televised English lessons made her one of Iran’s most popular performers. The majority teach, and the corps has even sent blind volunteers abroad to teach the blind.”

  In submitting his budget request for 1968, Mr. Vaughan told the House Foreign Affairs Committee, “It costs less money to make peace than war.”

  While Mr. Vaughn led the Peace Corps through 1969, his résumé also includes an array of other influential positions, among them ambassador to Panama in 1964 and 1965, assistant secretary of state for inter-American affairs from 1965 to 1966 and ambassador to Colombia from 1969 to 1970. He resigned from the foreign service because he felt the Nixon administration, preoccupied by the Vietnam War and turmoil in the Middle East, was not paying sufficient attention to Latin America.

  Newsletter Sign UpContinue reading the main story
  California Today
  The news and stories that matter to Californians (and anyone else interested in the state), delivered weekday mornings.

  Enter your email address
  Sign Up

  You agree to receive occasional updates and special offers for The New York Times's products and services.

  SEE SAMPLE PRIVACY POLICY OPT OUT OR CONTACT US ANYTIME
  Out of government service, Mr. Vaughn was president of the National Urban Coalition, dean of international studies at Florida International University, director of international programs for the Children’s Television Workshop (producing foreign versions of “Sesame Street”), president of the Planned Parenthood Federation, chairman of Conservation International and chairman of Ecotrust, an organization he founded to protect rain forests.

  Born in Lame Deer, Mont., Jack Hood Vaughn was one of five children of L. H. and Lona Vaughn. His father owned clothing stores. After graduating from the University of Michigan with a degree in romance languages, he enlisted in the Marines and saw action in the Pacific during World War II. He returned to his alma mater after the war and earned a master’s in economics.

  Fluent in Spanish, Mr. Vaughn soon joined the United States Information Agency and was sent to Bolivia to run a cultural center. He was later a program director for the United States Agency for International Development in Panama, Bolivia, Mali, Mauritania and Senegal. It was while escorting Lyndon Johnson, who was then the vice president, on a visit to Senegal that Mr. Vaughn came to the attention of Mr. Shriver, who asked him to become the Latin America director for the newly created Peace Corps.

  Mr. Vaughn’s first marriage, to the former Joanne Smith, ended in divorce. Besides his daughter Jane, he is survived by his second wife, the former Margaret Weld; two other daughters, Carol Vaughn and Kathryn Vaughn Tolstoy; a son, Jack Jr.; three sisters, Kathryn Swarthout, Billie Johnson and Janyth Sheldon; and two grandchildren.

  While studying at the University of Michigan, Mr. Vaughn also coached the university’s boxing team. Later, under the name Johnny Hood, he was a professional featherweight boxer.

  That experience came in handy in June 1988 when, while walking in Manhattan after midnight, he was attacked by a would-be mugger. “I kneed him in the groin and hit him in the jaw about five times,” Mr. Vaughn, then 67, said at the time. “I have an unbelievable left hook.”

  Although he no longer worked out, he added, “Sometimes I shadowbox, pretending I’m hitting certain politicians.”

  A version of this article appears in print on November 4, 2012, on Page A34 of the New York edition with the headline: Jack Hood Vaughn, 92; Led Peace Corps. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe

• Peace Corps Worldwide Website - http://peacecorpsworldwide.org/kill-the-gringo-jack-hood-vaughns-life-story/

  “Kill the Gringo” Jack Hood Vaughn’s Life Story
  Jan 30 2017

  3
  LATEST COMMENT
  Kay Gillies Dixon, PCV Colombia 1962-64

  My first meeting with Jack happened while serving as a PCV in Medellin, Colombia. Do not remember the exact…

  Add your comment
  “Jack’s life story is at once inspirational and terrifying, such a compelling combination for this modest man who looked like a country doctor and lived like a poster for a Harrison Ford movie.”

  —TOM BROKAW

  Kill the Gringo

  Kill the Gringo is the wide-ranging, action-packed memoir of Jack Hood Vaughn, whose career in diplomacy, social advocacy and conservation spanned more than 25 jobs and 11 countries.

  A professional boxer during his college years, Jack joined the Marines in 1941, fighting in the battles of Guam and Okinawa during World War II. His rapport with people and facility with language led to a speedy rise in international development in Latin America and Africa where he drew the attention of Vice President Lyndon Johnson during his visit to Senegal in 1961. Three years later, President Johnson appointed Jack ambassador to Panama when violent anti-American riots there led to a severing of diplomatic ties.

  As the second director of the Peace Corps, Jack presided over the largest number of volunteers in the organization’s history and the delicate handling of anti-Vietnam fervor among its ranks. After his foreign service career, Jack led the National Urban Coalition and Planned Parenthood during the turbulent late 60’s and early 70’s. A rural development job in Iran ended dramatically with the 1978 revolution, and Jack turned his focus to the environment, advising the Nature Conservancy and founding Conservation International in 1987. Told with Jacks’ humor and humility, his stories reveal an astonishingly varied, lively and distinguished career that lasted 50 years and earned him the nickname Peasant Ambassador.

  “I wanted a man down there who would be firm but fair, who knew he was representing me, and who loved the people at the same time.”

  —Lyndon Johnson on Jack Vaughn’s Panama appointment

  “Jack H. Vaughn [is] a dedicated and gifted public servant, a friend and patriot.”

  —Hubert H. Humphrey, Former Vice President of the United State

  Jack Vaughn served as director of the Peace Corps, ambassador to Panama and Colombia, and Assistant Secretary of State during the 1960s. After his diplomatic career, Jack moved to the forefront of the most controversial issues of the day, leading both the National Urban Coalition and Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Forced to leave his job in infrastructure development in Iran during the 1978 revolution, Jack began the final phase of his career in conservation, becoming the founding chairman of Conservation International. A professional boxer and World War II veteran, Jack found himself in harm’s way throughout his long career, from planes crashes to muggings and an attempted lynching.

  Over the years, Jack Vaughn and I had a number of conversations about his book and how the writing was going. He, unfortunately, did not live long enough to see his life in print. His daughter, Jane, took up the task of publishing her father’s life story. Jane Vaughn Constantineau lives with her family in San Diego. She is a graduate of Williams College and the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. JC note.

  Kill the Gringo will be in stores on April 11, 2017, but you can preorder the memoir now by emailing: http://www.rarebirdbooks.com/kill-the-gringo-by-jack-vaughn/

• Office of the Historian, Bureau of Public Affairs, United States Department of State Website - https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/people/vaughn-jack-hood

  Jack Hood Vaughn (1920–2012)
  Non-career appointee
  State of Residence: Virginia
  Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary (Panama)
  Appointed: April 8, 1964
  Presentation of Credentials: May 6, 1964
  Termination of Mission: Left Panama February 27, 1965
  Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs
  Appointed: March 11, 1965
  Entry on Duty: March 22, 1965
  Termination of Appointment: February 28, 1966
  Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary (Colombia)
  Appointed: May 27, 1969
  Presentation of Credentials: June 9, 1969
  Termination of Mission: Left post on June 25, 1970

• Fox News - http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/11/02/jack-hood-vaughn-former-peace-corps-director-ambassador-to-panama-and-colombia.html

  Jack Hood Vaughn, former Peace Corps director, ambassador to Panama and Colombia, dies at 92
  Published November 02, 2012 Associated Press
  Facebook Twitter Email Print
  PHOENIX – Jack Hood Vaughn, whose long list of jobs included serving as director of the Peace Corps, U.S. ambassador to Panama and Colombia, as well as stints for the federal government across Latin America, has died. He was 92.

  Vaughn's wife, Margaret, says he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer a few weeks ago and died Monday at his home in Tucson, Ariz.

  She says the three-time Golden Gloves champion, who served with the Marines in World War II and once lunched with Che Guevara, was in great health toward the end of his life. She says nothing ailed him until his cancer diagnosis.

  Vaughn held many jobs throughout his life but is best known for serving as the Peace Corps' second director from 1966 to 1969, during which volunteer ranks rose to historic numbers.

Vaughn, Jack Hood: KILL THE GRINGO
(Mar. 1, 2017):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Vaughn, Jack Hood KILL THE GRINGO Vireo/Rare Bird Books (Adult Nonfiction) $17.95 4, 11 ISBN: 978-1-945572-17-3

A man of many contradictions looks back on a lifetime of service to people in the public and private sectors.Vaughn (1920-2012) may not have the name recognition of contemporaries like George McGovern or Sargent Shriver, but his influence echoes through the fabric of American life. Vaughn worked on this autobiography from 1992 until his death, and his daughter, Constantineau, completed the project. To her credit, Vaughn's distinctive voice and sense of humor remain. A politically conservative but socially liberal public servant, Vaughn served as the second director of the Peace Corps, ambassador to Panama and Colombia, and head of the National Urban Coalition and Planned Parenthood Federation of America. What could have been--and sporadically is--a dry accounting of a career in service is punctuated by Vaughn's colorful personality and front-row seat to world history. The author describes fighting as a Marine in bloody battles in Guam and Okinawa and boxing professionally from the Golden Gloves to Latin America. The title comes from a match in Juarez that earns Vaughn's commentary: "The bad news was that I was the gringo. The good news was that I had not yet become familiar with the Spanish verb 'to kill.' " Later, the author describes meeting a sickly doctor in Panama in the mid-1950s who later became the revolutionary Che Guevara. Republican Vaughn earned the ire of Bobby Kennedy and a "Good going, son!" from his boss, Lyndon Johnson. Occasionally, the author lapses into a listless retelling of his uneven career arc, but there's enough engaging eyewitness history to make it a worthy read and a textbook for those seeking a career in public service. You must admire a man whose career advice included, "I often say it's a gift to be fired at least once," and "it is always better to be rumored to work for the CIA than to actually be employed there."

Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Vaughn, Jack Hood: KILL THE GRINGO." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Mar. 2017. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A482911742/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=a6ae614a. Accessed 13 Jan. 2018.

Gale Document Number: GALE|A482911742

• Peace Corps Worldwide Website
  http://peacecorpsworldwide.org/review-kill-the-gringo-by-jack-hood-vaughn/
  Word count: 1651

  Review — KILL THE GRINGO by Jack Hood Vaughn (PC Director)
  Jun 06 2017

  6

  Kill the Gringo: The Life of Jack Hood Vaughn
  Jack Hood Vaughn with Jane Constantineau
  Rare Bird Books
  May 2017
  389 pages
  $17.95 (paperback), $11.03 (Kindle)

  Reviewed by Randy Marcus (Ethiopia 1966-67)

  •
  “Everybody knows that Sargent Shriver was the first director of the Peace Corps. Only my wife remembers who the second one was.”

  SO COMMENTED JACK VAUGHN years after his Peace Corps stint. Sargent Shriver, John F. Kennedy’s brother-in-law, was a charismatic whirlwind who had built a national reputation as the creator and embodiment of the Peace Corps. Compared to Shriver, Jack Vaughn was no rock star. He certainly had the creds: an experienced USAID hand, a regional director in the Peace Corps under Shriver, Ambassador to Panama, and an Assistant Secretary of State. He was, however, a prosaic Lyndon Johnson protégé, not a glamorous Kennedy acolyte with the glow of Camelot.

  I had started my Ethiopia-bound Peace Corps training in 1965 under Shriver and resumed it in 1966 under Vaughn (in a one-time, two-summer training program at UCLA). Jack Hood Vaughn? Who the hell was this guy? That’s what I wondered upon graduation as I glanced at my newly issued Peace Corps Volunteer ID card with his signature on it.

  This memoir answers that question. Vaughn was a man of many talents and many jobs. His autobiography is a compendium of anecdotes, an enjoyable read for current or former Peace Corps Volunteers, foreign policy wonks, Latin America hands, environmentalists, or anyone with an interest in the headline personalities of the 1960s.

  A would-be reader might think the title refers to the chants of anti-American demonstrators who were always protesting US policies in Latin America. In fact, “mata al gringo” was directed at Vaughn years earlier when as a college student, he made his debut as a professional boxer in Juarez, Mexico. He was earning credentials to become his school’s head boxing coach. His life was at considerable more risk during his service with US Marines a few years later in the battles of Einewetok, Guam, and Okinawa.

  Vaughn survived Japanese bullets to use his other talents as a linguist. After a short and less than stellar academic career, he found his calling working abroad. He joined the fledgling US Information Agency as a program officer in Bolivia, Costa Rica, and Panama. Vaughn was a naturally gregarious outgoing sort. He made friends easily among host government officials and ordinary folks — a talent that would stand him in good stead as a future ambassador and Peace Corps director. He encountered all kinds of characters from presidents to military strong men to leftist radicals. One memorable encounter was with Ernesto Guevara, later to become the sainted leftist icon, Che. Guevara made it clear to Vaughn that he hated Americans— not just on ideological grounds, but also for a very personal reason. Some years earlier, three drunken American sailors had attacked him in Valparaiso, Chile, beat him savagely, and left him for dead.

  In 1956, Vaughn moved from USIA to what later became the US Agency for International Development (USAID). After an initial tour in Bolivia, he expanded his geographical horizons to West Africa. It was during his tour as USAID director for Senegal, Mauritania, and Mali that he had the opportunity to escort Vice President Lyndon Johnson during a visit to the region. He later met Sargent Shriver in Senegal and helped him to lay the groundwork for a Peace Corps presence in that part of Africa. In both instances, he made a good impression. Shriver asked him to join the Peace Corps as regional director for Latin America. Vaughn jumped at the chance, considering himself a Peace Corps type at heart. A few years later, LBJ, recalling his visit to Mali, appointed him ambassador to Panama — just at the moment Panama broke diplomatic relations with the US following violent protests over the US-owned Canal Zone. A year later, after having restored diplomatic ties and calmed the waters (without resolving the underlying issue of the Canal), Vaughn received an even more challenging assignment —Assistant Secretary for Inter-American Affairs at the State Department.

  Vaughn paints a vivid and a sometimes painful self-portrait during his year as assistant secretary. In 1965, civil conflict erupted in the Dominican Republic between leftist factions and military leaders Law and order broke down. Concerned about the safety of Americans in the DR and fearful of a Castro-type revolution, LBJ sent in US troops to quell the violence. He ordered Vaughn to stabilize the fractured DR political climate and win support for the US move from the countries in the hemisphere — a thankless and impossible task. Vaughn was not happy with the intervention and refused to sign off on it. However, he carried out his diplomatic marching orders as best he could. In one notable instance, LBJ demanded Vaughn draft a “white paper” that would lay out in detail all the steps the US had taken to avoid sending in the troops. In fact, it was minimal, but Vaughn gamely did his best to put lipstick on the pig. Johnson was not pleased. In front of the entire cabinet, Johnson harshly scolded Vaughn, calling him incompetent, lazy, disloyal, dense, inarticulate, and unqualified for any government position higher than a GS-3. Vaughn survived the humiliating dressing down, though, and eventually got back into LBJ’s good graces. One factor that may have helped win Johnson’s favor was their mutual antipathy of Bobby Kennedy. Vaughn almost got into a fistfight with the then New York senator over the DR, a story he recounts with great relish.

  Vaughn with Emperor Haile Selassie in Addis Ababa, 1966

  By 1966, US troops had been withdrawn and a political settlement achieved ending the bloodshed. Johnson rewarded Vaughn with his “dream job,” director of the Peace Corps. Even though Shriver was a tough act to follow, Vaughn buckled down and expanded the Peace Corps’ worldwide reach. He sought new ways to help PCVs become more valuable in their local communities. One reform was to “relax the rigid rule of separation between the Peace Corps and the State Department.” Foreign Service types were often quite skeptical about the young, untested PCVs. Vaughn helped change that attitude. He negotiated an agreement to enable PCVs to access the “ambassador’s fund,” a discretionary pot of money US embassies used for small development projects or emergency situations. As economic officer in our embassy in Togo in the 1970s, I provided those funds to up-country PCVs to help them build schools, markets, and bridges. It was a win-win for both the Peace Corps and US diplomacy.

  I did learn a surprising bit of trivia from Vaughn’s time as director. During his confirmation hearing in early 1966, a senator brought up the issue of PCVs’ appearance and controversy over hairy hippie types offending some local government leaders. In response, Vaughn banned Peace Corps beards to eliminate the distraction. Yet, in late 1966, as a PCV teacher in Ethiopia, I grew a beard to look older. No one from the Peace Corps office in Addis Ababa said a word to me about it.

  Vaughn also took steps to improve and expand language training. He introduced the concept of in-country training. He wrote that the first attempt at overseas training took place in Ghana in the summer of 1967. While that may have been the first group to be trained entirely in a host country, my group, Ethiopia VII (Advanced Training Program), may have been the first to go through at least partial in-country training. We student-taught summer school in Harar, Ethiopia in 1966 before being sent to our permanent locations. It was the best training we received.

  The Nixon administration did not keep Vaughn, and he went on to have an unusually varied and eclectic series of jobs in academia, children’s television, Planned Parenthood, infrastructure development in Iran, conservation, environmental protection, as well as a return to USAID. Timing is everything, and as luck would have it, his job overseeing a TVA-like project in Iran again gave him a front row seat to history. Residing in Tehran during the late 1970s, Vaughn and his family witnessed the tumultuous events that led to the fall of the Shah and the growing anti-US sentiment that ultimately prompted a massive flight of expatriate Americans from Iran. Vaughn described the dangers and hardships he faced on a daily basis. He also wryly commented on the US ambassador’s failure to recognize the writing on the wall that was obvious to many American residents: the Shah’s regime was doomed.

  Vaughn held a variety of wildly disparate positions, so a reader with particular interests might find parts of the book unrelated to those interests slow going. Nevertheless, evident throughout is Vaughn’s dry wit and feisty character. He was a happy warrior in the boxing and the political arenas. Those of us who served as PCVs during his tenure can be grateful for his efforts to ensure that Shriver’s creation would endure as a permanent US government entity — one that to this day still embodies the best America has to offer to the world.

  •
  Reviewer Randolph Marcus taught secondary school students in Asella, Ethiopia in the mid-sixties before joining the Foreign Service in 1969. During his diplomatic career, he served in (then) South Vietnam, Togo, Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina as well as in Washington, DC. Following his retirement from the State Department, Randy worked for the Air Force Office of Special Investigations and the Defense Department as a counterterrorism analyst. He is currently serving as treasurer on the board of directors of Ethiopia & Eritrea Returned Peace Corps Volunteers.

• Arizona Daily Star
  http://tucson.com/entertainment/books/southern-arizona-authors-a-us-diplomat-holocaust-survior-tell-their/article_3d408a74-2c4c-544f-a27a-f352dec2ae7a.html
  Word count: 409

  Southern Arizona Authors: A US diplomat, Holocaust survior tell their lives’ stories
  Arizona Daily Star Sep 2, 2017
  Facebook
  Twitter
  Email
  Facebook
  Twitter
  Email
  Print
  Save
  “KILL THE GRINGO: THE LIFE OF JACK HOOD VAUGHN―AMERICAN DIPLOMAT, DIRECTOR OF THE PEACE CORPS, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO COLOMBIA AND PANAMA, AND CONSERVATIONIST”
  By Jack Vaughn and Jane Constantineau(Rare Bird Books, A Vireo Book. $17.95. print, $10.99 Kindle)

  As the title of this book indicates, Jack Hood Vaughn lived a life dedicated to public service in a career that began in the mid-20th century and lasted nearly until its end. His memoir is an edifying record of America’s role on the world stage during challenging times.

  But this is no dry record of names and dates. Jack Vaughn was a consummate storyteller. His memoir fairly crackles with wit and revealing anecdotes, and reads like a “Who’s Who” of political and international celebrities of the time: from Che Guevara (who “spouted slogans but had few thoughts of his own”) to Bill Moyers (a man of “strong character and commitment” with a great sense of humor) and even including a pugnacious Bobby Kennedy. No shrinking violet himself—he had considered a career as a professional boxer—Vaughn once went toe-to-toe with Kennedy during a disagreement, thoroughly riling up Kennedy but earning Vaughn a pat on the back from Lyndon Johnson.

  Vaughn’s record of his tenure with the Peace Corps is central to this book. He signed on as regional director for Latin America in the heady days of its founding, attracted by its idealism and its goal of peaceful engagement with the Third World. He was a hands-on administrator, spending his time in far-flung outposts and “…sharing volunteers’ floor mats and their dysentery in almost 500 cities and villages.” He went on to follow Sargent Shriver as the Peace Corps’ second director, charting its course through the turbulent Vietnam era of the late ‘sixties.

  Vaughn began his memoir in 1992, the year he moved to Tucson, and kept at it until his passing in 2012 at the age of 92. His daughter, Jane Constantineau, took up the unfinished manuscript and filled in the details and context missing from her father’s colorful account. Together they produced a fine read for anyone with an interest in U.S. history and an ear for a story well-told.