The Press: Peace Corpsman Buchwald

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Respectfully observing the rush to join President Kennedy's volunteer Peace Corps, New York Herald Tribune Columnist Art Buchwald last week decided to sign up himself—in a typically Buchwaldian way. Excerpts:

"One of the most urgent areas requiring technical skills and help is the French Riviera. There are people on the Riviera walking around half naked, lacking shelter, and many still don't have their own boats.

In the under-developed towns of Cannes, Nice and Monte Carlo, long lines of unemployed and untrained people stand around roulette wheels and chemin de fer tables hoping for financial aid and technical assistance.

"We would be willing to drop everything this summer and go down to the Riviera to help them. We would live the way they do, eat the food they do, share their homes and show them that an American is not too proud to become one of them. We would be willing to instruct the Rothschilds in basic money problems. We could show Mr. Onassis how to build tankers cheaply out of plywood, and the Aga Khan how to use the sea as a source of food. We would instruct the women how to make the most of their Diors and Balenciagas and how to develop their natural resources. With the latest American cosmetic equipment they could earn diamonds, pearls, rubies and emeralds that they could eventually exchange for rice, meat and other staples. We could show the men how to plow with their Ferraris and Mercedes, and how to handle their polo ponies so they could get the most out of their crops.

"The Riviera folk have been kicked around by everybody. They are very suspicious of anybody who wants to change their customs. Yet, despite the fact that they cling to their old customs, we think that if we. as a member of the Peace Corps, could have just one summer with them on the Riviera, we could teach them the American way, and by living with them and showing them how we do things back home, they would be a happier and more contented people.

"It's worth a try, and it's better that we get to them before the Russians."