“Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.” – President Kennedy’s Inaugural Address
I have long thought, and written, that John Kennedy’s presidency was more style than substance, but let’s give credit where it’s due. As president he did reignite America’s interest in the space program — his challenge to put a man on the moon within the decade of the 1960s electrified the nation — and this week (Sept. 22) in 1961, under his direction, Congress authorized the Peace Corps, which was a humanitarian program designed to promote better relations between America and the Third World. It was also, as Kennedy clearly intended, a weapon to be used against the Soviet Union in the Cold War.
The Peace Corps was an “army” of mostly young, idealistic volunteers from across America who were sent to underdeveloped nations in Africa, Asia, Latin America, Eastern Europe and elsewhere, to help educate and raise the standard of living of the people in those nations. Peace Corps volunteers had to be U.S. citizens and at least 18 years of age, and it helped if they had some experience in teaching, engineering, agricultural science or healthcare. Each volunteer was to serve for a two-year term with the option of ongoing service, and many volunteers spent years in such nations as Burma, India, Peru, Haiti, Ecuador and Honduras, teaching the people better hygiene and diet, helping them farm more efficiently, helping them build roads and schools, and so on.
It was a magnanimous and idealistic concept, but it had a geopolitical application as well. In campaigning against Richard Nixon in 1960, Kennedy had criticized the foreign policy of the Eisenhower-Nixon years as stagnant and too dependent on military options with respect to the Soviet Union. Thus, through the Peace Corps, Kennedy hoped that in improving the lives of the people in Third World nations, they would be less susceptible to the promises of Communism, while becoming more reliant upon, and friendly to, America and her western allies. To the extent that the Cold War was about influencing non-aligned nations and bringing them into your camp, Kennedy thought the Peace Corps would be an effective, and relatively inexpensive, alternative to the usual balance-of-(military) power politics.
In the event, many thousands of young Americans signed on, and their courage and commitment, and the friendships they made around the world, helped make the Peace Corps a resounding success — and it is still going strong today.
Granted, in terms of furthering Kennedy’s geopolitical goals, it is hard to say how much the Peace Corps contributed — probably not a lot — but last time I checked, America and the West did win the Cold War.
