The Peace Corp was created by John F. Kennedy and it was created to encourage similar understanding between Americans and other cultures of the world. It was created in 1961 and approved by congress as a US federal agency that was within the State Department. In 1981, the Peace Corps was made into an independent agency. Rober Sargent Shriver (the brother-in-law of Kennedy) was the director of the Corp. President K wanted to get Americans more involved in the cause of global pace, democracy, development and freedom. the Corps consisted mainly of newly collage graduates. there wasn't much to do then, but by then it was doing pretty well undr the umbrella
The Peace Corps lost interest after the Vietnam war and then the governmet funding was no longer available. President Nixon later put the Peace Corps under the umbrella angency because of low interest adn financial support. It remained there until 1979 when President Jimmy Carter presented it as independent enough to hold it's own.
I think that think that this was a good attempt to make everyone get along so we could have peace around the world.
Sources:
http://www.jfklibrary.org/Historical+Resources/JFK+in+History/Peace...
Comments