peace corps

peace corps

• Created by executive order (1 March 1961) after JFK’s New Frontier speech

• Sent volunteers to developing countries for teaching and technical aid → 5,000 volunteers in 46 countries by 1963

• Led by Sargent Shriver → strong recruitment and organisation

• Aimed to:

  • Promote US values and counter Soviet propaganda

  • Support global development and peace

• Mixed reception:

  • Criticised as “Kennedy’s Kiddie Korps” or “Yankee Imperialism”

  • 71% public approval; bipartisan support

• AO2:

• Peace Corps = soft power tool blending humanitarianism with Cold War strategy

• Showed Kennedy’s idealism and global ambition beyond domestic reform

kennedy and the cold war

• Viewed communism as expansionist threat → committed to global containment

• Supported:

  • US war in Korea (1950–53)

  • Eisenhower’s anti-communism in Vietnam

• As president, opposed communism in:

  • Cuba (Bay of Pigs, Missile Crisis)

  • Vietnam (military advisors, aid)

  • Developing nations (Peace Corps, aid diplomacy)

  • Space race (symbolic Cold War battleground)

• AO2:

• Kennedy’s foreign policy driven by Cold War ideology

• Prioritised national security over domestic reform

• Cold War context shaped both rhetoric and resource allocation

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