ABSTRACT
Thousands of young Americans traveled and lived abroad in the 1960s as volunteers in the U.S. Peace Corps, a major policy initiative launched under President John F. Kennedy. The Peace Corps was founded in the earliest days of the Kennedy administration in March 1961 as the first outpost of his New Frontier with Executive Order 10924. Established as a permanent agency within the U.S. State Department, it would sponsor “the training and service abroad of men and women of the United States in new programs of assistance to nations and areas of the world.” 1 The legislation that followed, known as the Peace Corps Act, set forth three main objectives: (1) to provide trained manpower, (2) promote a better understanding of Americans among people abroad, and (3) increase Americans’ knowledge of the world. 2 By assisting people in developing nations, Kennedy envisioned the Peace Corps as a counterweight to both Communism and old-fashioned imperialism. 3
