very important part of that," Ruppe said. Independence of the Peace Corps In 1971 the Peace Corps had lost its independent status when the Nixon Administration made it part of Action, an umbrella agency that included the Foster Grandparent Program, Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA), and the National Center for Service Learning. After the resignation of Peace Corps Director Carolyn R. Payton in 1978, President Jimmy Carter issued an executive order restoring some of its autonomy, but supporters of the agency continued to feel that under Action the Peace Corps suffered from a lack of visibility and identity. Matters came to a head in March, 1981 when Reagan appointed Thomas W. Pauken to be director of Action. Mr. Pauken served as a military intelligence officer in the Vietnam war. The Peace Corps has a prohibition against having former intelligence agents serve in the agency. Senator Alan Cranston of California led Democrats in drafting legislation to make the Peace Corps completely independent again, saying the Peace Corps could not operate with the necessary credibility and independence from the Government if it were organizationally under the direction of Mr. Pauken. Ruppe publicly took the position that there was no need for the agency to be more independent than it already was under Action. However, on March 18, 1981, Ruppe sent a letter to Senator Alan Cranston (D-CA), which challenged Pauken's nomination. An ACTION official told The Heritage Foundation, "She fought vociferously against the Administration position that the Peace Corps should be a part of Action." On June 20, 1981, the Peace Corps celebrated its twentieth anniversary and thousands of returned volunteers came to Howard University Washington, DC, to celebrate. At the opening of the conference, the audience of returned volunteers applauded Ruppe when she told them that she was committed to a strict policy of keeping the Peace Corps out of United States intelligence work in foreign countries. Ruppe added that on May 15, 1981, she and Secretary of State Alexander Haig had sent a joint communique to all United States embassies reaffirming that Peace Corps volunteers would not engage in spy or intelligence activities. Cranston's legislation to sever ties between Action and the Peace Corps subsequently passed even though opposed by the Reagan administration claiming the duplication of administrative overhead would cost the taxpayers an additional $3 million to $7 million per year. Budget cuts On November 1, 1981, the