Posts tagged John F. Kennedy
Life is calling. How far will you go?
It’s Peace Corps Week
Peace Corps Week commemorates the date President John F. Kennedy signed the executive order to establish the Peace Corps, March 1, 1961.
Learn more about the Peace Corps and the Volunteers who are making a different in host countries around the world here.
Pictured: President Kennedy hands the pen used to sign the Peace Corps Act to his brother-in-law, R. Sargent Shriver, who he had designated as the Corps founding Director.
“I feel that my father’s greatest legacy was the people he inspired to get involved in public service and their communities, to join the Peace Corps, to go into space. And really that generation transformed this country in civil rights, social justice, the economy and everything.”
- Caroline Kennedy
On this day in 1961, Peace Corps was formally authorized by Congress with passage of the Peace Corps Act.
Photo credit: Abbie Rowe, White House Photographs John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston
On this day 51 years ago, President John F. Kennedy announced the formation of the Peace Corps. Happy birthday to us!
KN-C18662 on Flickr.
President John F. Kennedy greets the first group of departing Peace Corps Volunteers, leaving for Tanganyika and Ghana, in the the Oval Office.
Photographer: Robert Knudsen/White House, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston
In honor of President’s Day and our founder, here’s a vintage public service announcement featuring President John F. Kennedy.
The Peace Corps Act - September 22, 1961
On March 1, 1961, President Kennedy signed the executive order establishing the Peace Corps. On September 22, 1961, Congress approved the legislation that formally authorized the Peace Corps. Goals of the Peace Corps included: 1) helping the people of interested countries and areas meet their needs for trained workers; 2) helping promote a better understanding of Americans in countries where volunteers served; and 3) helping promote a better understanding of peoples of other nations on the part of Americans.
Happy birthday, Peace Corps. The toughest job you’ll ever love turns 50 this year; today marks the day that President Kennedy signed the Peace Corps Bill into law.
Here’s to all the volunteers who have promoted peace and friendship around the world. This photo from the 1960s features a Peace Corps Volunteer in Instanbul.
If you aren’t already following the Peace Corps on Tumblr, you can see many more pictures of volunteers at work here.
The concept of volunteers serving abroad on grass-roots foreign aid projects originated in Congress in the 1950s. In 1961 President John F. Kennedy established the Peace Corps by executive order. President Kennedy then sent this letter to Senate President (Vice President of the U.S.) Lyndon B. Johnson describing the successes of the Peace Corps program he had established. Kennedy included a draft bill authorizing the Peace Corps with his letter. Kennedy’s draft bill was identical to the bill Senator Hubert H. Humphrey introduced on June 1, 1961. President Kennedy signed S. 2000 into law on September 22, 1961. The Peace Corps celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2011.
Letter from President Kennedy to Lyndon Johnson, 5/29/1961, Records of the U.S. Senate
S. 2000, Peace Corps bill, 6/1/1961, Records of the U.S. Senate
President John F. Kennedy greets the first group of departing Peace Corps Volunteers, leaving for Tanganyika and Ghana, in the the Oval Office.
Photographer: Robert Knudsen/White House, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston
