 On January 4, 1972 Joseph H. Blatchford, director of Action, the agency that oversaw the Peace Corps, ordered a halt in signing up volunteers and instructed O'Donnell to prepare plans to terminate about 4,000 volunteers on duty in 55 countries.Blatchford wanted the plans so that the volunteers can be returned to the United States by the end of March.Congress had refused to appropriate the $82 million requested by President Nixon for the Peace Corps.