Archive - January 30, 2013

[Over the next month or so–as we reach the anniversary of the Peace Corps–I thought I might relate some tales of how the Peace Corps was established. Let’s begin with Kennedy and his involvement in the agency that he would create, and what many people think was his greatest achievement, and which all of you were part of making a reality.] Kennedy Learns about the Peace Corps JFK’s first direct association with the Peace Corps came on February 21, 1960. He was on a college television show called “College News Conference” and someone asked about the “Point Four Youth Corps.” Kennedy said he didn’t know what the legislative proposal was. Afterwards, he told aide Richard Goodwin to research the idea. Goodwin, who was the Kennedy link with the “brain trust” at Harvard, wrote to Archibald Cox at the university’s law school about the idea. Then in April and May of . . .