Nixon, Blatchford & Khosrovi on Government Reorganization and Peace Corps

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I just sent you out for a picture here at the present time, so you go out and see the press.

And they're possibly going to be ready.

They're ready.

Go.

Well, why don't we do it?

Why don't you sit?

Just put your chairs around there.

That's fine.

Yeah, that's fine.

What's the reorganization plan look alright to you?

all right what's going forward and uh that momentum of that uh great speech you gave in nebraska is what we're trying to keep going well we got there it seems to me we found a lot more of these activities than we all yeah they are buried in all senior people business men of course

There are a lot of others too.

There are a lot of other ones that will probably gain more prominence now out in front, out from under the big department.

They should get more eliciting and more prominence.

The hardest person is teaching her.

I guess they finally relaxed.

Well, we didn't quite do it.

Well, that's going by legislation rather than by reorganization.

I know.

I'm sorry.

Thank you for my weird art accent.

The problem is you do it by reorganization, ma'am.

Congress either has to take it or leave it.

Yeah.

And if they had something in there that there was going to be a big fight about, it might cause the whole plan to go down.

Oh, yeah.

So we thought, let's get this thing into place.

Yeah.

The head of the Office of Education is a very able man, a strong man.

It's always confusing, you know, the word volunteer.

But it doesn't really belong, in a sense, to any individual who's any kind of activity.

But the part about the teacher who orders it to, it really belongs to the volunteer.

You know, it's not any kind of activity.

It's always going to help people.

We already have an agreement worked out with the Teaching Corps and the Peace Corps where a young man or woman goes in and teaches in an urban ghetto for one year and then two years overseas in the Peace Corps.

And a three-year total service leads toward a master's degree.

And 50% of the Teaching Corps are blacks.

And this is a terrific way of expanding this to include more blacks.

And that's another good reason I think it should be in.

Um, and we've got, we should have had our, should have had our friend Richardson over here today.

Yeah.

And you, Marlon?

Right.

Marlon's the one.

I think Richardson is, I think really, saw what we were, what we wanted, but, uh, but he had to really come out on the pitch.

And, uh, it's the fact, isn't it, with respect, that he did a great job.

Well, I think the OEO has to be inspired in all this over the past few years.

They did the Head Start program and the Job Corps program and various other things, VISTA.

And I think myself, the OEO is going to be very

A productive organization has a research and demonstration organization that will be stronger for that reason.

They are really operational.

They're ready now.

And then after that, they're ready for the next one.

Well, this is what we took right out of this, Lieutenant.

The organization plan number one.

The whole, uh, thing, uh, I talked to, uh, Congressman Hollowfield, Mark, state, you know, and he said that this is, that he thought this was yours.

Ha, ha, ha.

What a big meal.

Ha, ha, ha.

I'm going to suggest that, uh, Mr. Fletcher and, uh, Mr. Rizzi move to the side.

And, uh, we had another picture just standing there.

See him get a little, uh, a little, see what they can think of, uh, symmetry in the picture, sir.

Joe, move that chair over here.

Step on the circle.

That's it.

Does it seem like you're going to get an officer?

Does it seem like that?

How does the time go on?

The time?

I don't know.

I didn't even think about it that long.

You should make up to this guy yesterday, if you know.

Tell him, buddy.

Yeah, yeah.

Tell him anything that happens.

I'm sorry.

Well, come to think of it, no.

If they're not bored, so they've got problems.

They're worried about this or that.

and, gee, there's such a crisis and so forth, and so they're lucky.

That's what they need.

They need something to do, something to think about.

It's a fight that's always a battle, a battle for, in this case, for a good cause.

With this kind of a plan, I think, pulling these together and with the drive you've given it,

I can go to any campus and I can say, okay, now we're going to help you to get involved in this thing.

If you can't, as you said, if you can't go overseas for years, then do some work here for a year.

If you can't do that work part-time, we'll help you to enable you to do this.

So this is the way we're thinking.

It's in the message.

I served at Northwestern about two weeks ago.

And talked to 250 student leaders, 63 students by the president.

And they stand up and they're very antagonistic.

It's very fashionable to be cynical, make grand statements about how everything is wrong.

Just keep hanging and talking to them for two, three hours.

Say, well, what do you suggest?

What are you doing in your community?

Well, what are you going to do for me?

What's Resnick going to do for me?

Well, what are you going to do?

Maybe we can help you do something.

And then it starts calming down.

And about 30 hours later, they still stand up and make these grand and open speeches before their peers.

They all came up to me and to the other recruiters and said, gee, what can I do?

It's terrific.

What can I do now?

They don't want to look positive and enthusiastic about it for everybody because it's not quite the fashion.

but personally, they really want it.

I think you can offer a longer period of time, particularly if you move the war and the draft and all these things.

It'll take time, but you'll come to a period when these people will perhaps, I don't know what I'll say.

It's a question they may not have as much incentive.

I don't think they should.

Well, I think they have plenty of incentive.

And both of this is a piece of our movement stuff this year.

Good, good.

96% of it.

We've got to sell that to everybody.

Yeah.

But now that's due to your efforts, I'm sure.

We're getting them now.

Well, let's see.

We've got to get you to the conference center.

Oh, we already have one of these rooms.

There you are.

Can I ask you a question?

Oh, you've got that.

You've heard something along the lines of, you always get a choice.

Thank you.

Nixon, Blatchford & Khosrovi on Government Reorganization and Peace Corps

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Nixon Library Finding Aid

Also recorded on March 24, 1971

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