1960s. When the World Fell in Love With America

The speaker is Harris Wofford I interviewed in 1989 for my six-part television series, "Making Sense of the Sixties.". He worked for Pres. Kennedy who was involved with the civil rights struggle. He was a Peace Corps volunteer and an author who wrote the book Of Kennedy and Kings. He was a front-line witness to the struggles he describes. Harris Wofford (1926–2019) was a towering figure in 20th-century American politics, social history, and the modern civic service movement. While he eventually became a U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania, his foundational work in the 1950s and 1960s cemented his legacy as a brilliant bridge-builder between the Civil Rights Movement and the federal government. Wofford joined John F. Kennedy's 1960 presidential campaign as a crucial link to civil rights leaders. He had already established a deep background in the movement, having studied Gandhian nonviolence in India, worked closely with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and become the first white man to graduate from Howard University School of Law in 1954. His most historic campaign intervention occurred in October 1960 when Dr. King was jailed in Georgia on a minor traffic violation. Wofford engineered the strategy for JFK to call Coretta Scott King to express his concern, while Robert F. Kennedy worked behind the scenes to secure King's release. This moment shifted Black voter support heavily toward Kennedy and is widely credited with tipping the incredibly close 1960 election in JFK's favor.Upon taking office, Kennedy appointed Wofford as his Special Assistant for Civil Rights. Wofford effectively acted as a critical, sometimes uncomfortable buffer between the White House and the active frontlines of the Civil Rights Movement, urging executive action on integration even when the administration hesitated to push for legislative battles. Though Wofford was deeply invested in civil rights, his true passion lay in universal citizen service. In 1961, he worked hand-in-hand with JFK's brother-in-law, Sargent Shriver, to plan and launch the Peace Corps.Wofford viewed the program not as a geopolitical tool for the Cold War, but as a vehicle for transformative personal growth and global understanding. He recalled a conversation on the White House lawn where President Kennedy told him:"You know this Peace Corps is going to be really serious when we have 100,000 Volunteers a year... Then at last, we'll have an intelligent foreign policy because there will be a big constituency of people who understand the world."Wofford quickly moved from Washington to the field, serving as the Peace Corps' Special Representative to Africa and Director of Operations in Ethiopia, where he directly oversaw the deployment of the first massive wave of volunteers. He later returned to Washington to serve as the agency's Associate Director until 1966. Wofford’s dedication to civic action didn't end with the global stage. His later achievements formed a lifelong pattern of "cracking the atom of civic power":Selma March (1965): He was the only prominent Washington administration official to walk the full four days alongside Dr. King from Selma to Montgomery.AmeriCorps & National Service: As a U.S. Senator in 1993, he co-authored the legislation that created AmeriCorps and the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), later serving as its CEO under President Bill Clinton.MLK Day of Service: Working alongside Congressman John Lewis, Wofford helped pass the bill that transformed the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday into a national day of volunteer service ("A day on, not a day off").For his profound impact on civic life, he was awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal in 2013, leaving behind a legacy that fundamentally shaped how generations of Americans engage with the world at home and abroad. Those who did not live through this may not find this of interest although I hope those interested in history will. Thank you. To support my efforts to create more clips please donate to me at www.patreon.com/allinaday.