On a Secular Mission: The US Peace Corps in Iran

This presentation focuses on what studying the Peace Corps program in Iran (1962-1976) can tell us about the history of US-Iran cultural and social relations that differs from the familiar narratives of misunderstanding, conflict and mistrust. Often overlooked as a footnote in this history, the Peace Corps experience stands out, along with the American missionary contribution to modern education, as a uniquely positive aspect of US-Iranian relations. Conceived as the Kennedy administration’s “soft power” initiative to combat Communism in the Third World, the Peace Corps sent 1,800 young Americans to teach English, urban planning, and community development programs to ordinary people via cultural immersion in Iranian society. I will examine how the program was distinct in its immediate and long-term impact on both countries. First, similar to religious missions, and unlike any other US-Iranian interaction, the Peace Corps was a project of Americans acculturating to Iran and forging personal ties with Iranians. Thousands of people from all backgrounds across Iran interacted with Peace Corps volunteers in professional, educational, and social settings, thus forming ideas about the US that differed from official government discourses on both sides, before and after the 1979 Revolution. Second, the program fostered lasting personal bonds, including marriages, between Iranians and Americans that withstood physical separation and political turmoil. Returning home, former Peace Corps members gave their children Persian names, cooked Iranian cuisine, used Persian language, and maintained close friends in Iran. Third, a significant number of Peace Corps volunteers went on to become Middle East scholars who continue to educate Americans about Iran’s languages, history, society, and politics from an informed, critical perspective. Sixty years after its volunteers first landed in Iran, ex-Peace Corps members keep the program’s legacy alive through the Peace Corps Iran Association, promoting US-Iran engagement.