To Top

Kjolseth and Kohlschutter’s 1957 Trip to South American

• CATEGORIES: Features, Old Images, Old News Articles • TAGS: This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

On September 11, 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower introduced the People-to-People Program, “to enhance international understanding and friendship through educational, cultural and humanitarian activities involving the exchange of ideas and experiences directly among peoples of different countries and diverse cultures.”

Two students out of Colorado University, Rolf Kjolseth, of Boulder, Colorado, and Andreas Kohlschutter, of Berne, Switzerland, decided to put Eisenhower’s idea into action by driving a jeep from the United States to Rio De Janeiro, where they planned to sell the jeep and return to the United State by ship. Along the way, they hoped to meet people from all walks of life. They called their jeep “Columbus II”.

1957-06-24-albuquerque-journal-south-america-trip

June 24, 1957, Albuquerque Journal

The trip was sponsored by the U.S. Information Agency and the Pan American Union. The two young men were supposed to write about their trip and send their stories to several newspapers, but I can’t find any articles with their by-lines. They even had their photo take with  then Vice President Richard Nixon on the steps of the U.S. Capitol, but I haven’t located a copy of that yet.

1957-06-13-greeley-daily-tribune-south-america-trip

June 13, 1957, Greeley Daily Tribune

According to multiple reports, the intrepid explorers drove their early CJ-5 south from Laredo, Texas, through Mexico, into Central America and, probably via boat, made it to South America. The photos below show the pair in Colombia.

1957-10-24-salem-news-trip-to-south-america-lores

November 11, 1957, The Marion Star, Marion, Ohio,

I could not locate any information following their stop in Colombia.

At the very least, Rolf made it back to Colorado, becoming an associate professor at the University of Colorado from 1971-2011. I don’t know if Rolf is alive or not, but he does have an email address associated with UC. Whether he monitors it or not, I couldn’t say, but I sent him an email. Hopefully someone will respond.

 

3 Comments on “Kjolseth and Kohlschutter’s 1957 Trip to South American

  1. Terry

    “Good will ” in South America ? I bet they were robbed and their Jeep stolen and they had to hitch-hike back to the US . That’s why we never heard of them again .

  2. Rolf Kjolseth

    I’m still alive and in another month will be 89. After 7 months and 20,000 miles we DID make to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Andy traveled Brazil for another 3 months, while I took a ship to Europe to be the Trainer for the Bolivian National Ski Team at the FIS world Championships in Badgestein, Austria. I then went on to Graduate studies at the University of Freiburg, Germany. Andy returned home to Miri by Bern and became a diplomat and journalist. I’ve finally just recently finished an account (475 pages & 739 images) of our expedition and am considering publishing possibilities.

  3. David Eilers Post author

    Hi Rolf,

    Thanks so much for your comment and glad to hear you both returned safely! Congrats on finishing your account of the trip! I’m sure that’s been a project you’ve been hoping to finish for quite some time.

    I hope my explanation of the trip was accurate, as I was relying on the above resources for information.

    If you publish it in English (my German is pretty darn rusty), I’d love to purchase a copy.

    Best of luck!

    – David Eilers
    d@deilers.com
    http://www.ewillys.com

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Subscribe without commenting