Interview with Cliff Koeninger, July 5, 2023

Interview Summary

Cliff Koeninger served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Dominican Republic III from 1962-62. He discusses being inspired by John F Kennedy and joining the Peace Corps after two years in college. He discusses physical and community development training in Puerto Rico and his assignment to organize villagers to build a six-room school. He says that thinking that PCVs could make a difference without specific skills or clearly defined jobs or paying host country nationals to work was a naïve idea which resulted in many volunteers being disillusioned. He says Peace Corps learned from these early experiences. He discusses helping root out corruption by just doing his job and tells moving stories about how other PCVs impacted the lives of host country people. His service opened him up to possibilities and convinced him to return to school and become an architect. Similarly, Dominicans impacted his understanding of community. He reflects on young American’s economic priorities.

Interview Keyword

Peace Corps (US) Dominican Republic (Country of Service) Community Economic Development (Peace Corps program) 1962-64 (years of service) Camp Crozier (Puerto Rico training site) University of Puerto Rico at Rio Pierdas Monte Llano (town in which he served) Isabel de Torres mountain Puerto Plato University of Texas at Austin (where he went to college and where he met Kennedy when he was a presidential candidate) Jorge Severino (,Dominican artist and cultural attaché in Madrid Spain) Alejandro Toledo ( first Indigenous President of Peru 2002-2006, Stamford Phd) Peace Corps in the Schools.

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