{"id":385,"date":"2014-02-10T13:48:27","date_gmt":"2014-02-10T18:48:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.library.american.edu\/pcca\/?p=385"},"modified":"2023-04-07T13:48:07","modified_gmt":"2023-04-07T17:48:07","slug":"bringing-to-man-that-decent-way-of-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.library.american.edu\/pcca\/bringing-to-man-that-decent-way-of-life\/","title":{"rendered":"“Bringing to Man that Decent Way of Life”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\tThe Peace Corps traces its history to a speech given by Senator John F. Kennedy in 1960.\u00a0 In the midst of the Cold War and a presidential campaign, Kennedy, on October 14th<\/sup>, challenged University of Michigan students to travel abroad giving their time and talents to nations around the world.\u00a0 \u201cHow many of you, who are going to be doctors, are willing to spend your days in Ghana?\u201d Kennedy asked in an unplanned speech.<\/p>\n

Those in attendance followed up with a petition which was eventually signed by one thousand students who affirmed their willingness to leave the comforts of the United States to work in developing countries.\u00a0 Their signatures and commitment to service inspired the Peace Corps.\u00a0 Once elected, President Kennedy followed up on his challenge and issued Executive Order 10924 establishing the Peace Corps on a temporary basis.<\/p>\n

In a statement announcing the Peace Corps\u2019 establishment on March 1, 1961, Kennedy acknowledged the real challenges waiting ahead for participants.\u00a0 However, he stressed that the rewards, compared to the challenges, would be far greater.\u00a0\u00a0 Kennedy claimed, \u201cFor every young American who participates in the Peace Corps\u2014who works in a foreign land\u2014will know that he or she is sharing in the great common task of bringing to man that decent way of life which is the foundation of freedom and a condition of peace.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Abbie<\/a>

Abbie Rowe. White House Photographs. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Robert<\/a>

Robert Knudsen. White House Photographs. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston<\/p><\/div>\n

On August 28, 1961, President Kennedy hosted a ceremony honoring the first group of volunteers, Ghana I and Tanganyika I, in the White House Rose Garden.\u00a0 Days later, fifty-one Ghana I volunteers arrived in Accra to serve as teachers.\u00a0 Less than a month later, the Peace Corps became a permanent federal agency with the Peace Corps Act.<\/p>\n

\"Abbie<\/a>

Abbie Rowe. White House Photographs. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston<\/p><\/div>\n

Sources:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cAbout Us.\u201d Peace Corps.\u00a0 http:\/\/www.peacecorps.gov\/about\/<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cPeace Corps.\u201d John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. http:\/\/www.jfklibrary.org\/JFK\/JFK-in-History\/Peace-Corps.aspx<\/a><\/p>\n

All images are courtesy of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Peace Corps traces its history to a speech given by Senator John F. Kennedy in 1960.\u00a0 In the midst of the Cold War and a presidential campaign, Kennedy, on October 14th, challenged University of Michigan students to travel abroad giving their time and talents to nations around the world.\u00a0 \u201cHow many of you, who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,9,524,39,43,46,73,77,87],"tags":[224,225,226,276],"class_list":["post-385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-1960s","category-africa","category-blog-post","category-event","category-friends-of-ghana","category-ghana","category-peace-corps-history","category-photographs","category-tanzania","tag-jfk","tag-john-f-kennedy","tag-john-f-kennedy-presidential-library-and-museum","tag-peace-corps-act"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.american.edu\/pcca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.american.edu\/pcca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.american.edu\/pcca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.american.edu\/pcca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.american.edu\/pcca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=385"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.american.edu\/pcca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6739,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.american.edu\/pcca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385\/revisions\/6739"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.american.edu\/pcca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.american.edu\/pcca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.american.edu\/pcca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}