Peace Corps at 50: Same Mission of Aid, Just Smaller
28 March 2011
President John Kennedy speaks to Peace Corps volunteers in the White House Rose Garden August 28, 1961
STEVE EMBER: Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I’m Steve Ember.
FAITH LAPIDUS: And I'm Faith Lapidus. Americans who volunteer for the Peace Corps get a chance to help improve lives in developing countries. They also get a chance to learn more about the world, and about themselves. This week on our show, we take a look at this program which is celebrating its fiftieth anniversary.
(MUSIC)
STEVE EMBER: President John Kennedy established the Peace Corps soon after he took office in nineteen sixty-one. It was the time of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union.
The new program gave Americans a chance to answer the call to service that the president made in his inaugural speech. "Ask not what your country can do for you," he said. "Ask what you can do for your country."
Kennedy told Peace Corps volunteers that America's image in the countries where they were going would depend largely on them.
JOHN KENNEDY: "And if you impress them with your commitment to freedom, to the advancement of the interests of people everywhere, to your pride in your country and its best traditions, and what it stands for, the influence may be far-reaching."
FAITH LAPIDUS: On August thirtieth, nineteen sixty-one, the first group of fifty-one Peace Corps volunteers arrived in Accra, Ghana, to serve as teachers. They had agreed to work for almost no pay. They would spend two years in Ghana helping its people and learning the reality of life in a developing country.
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