March 1, 1961 - President Kennedy signed an executive order establishing the Peace Corps

On October 14, 1960 at 2:00am, Senator John F. Kennedy speaks to ~10,000 students at the University of Michigan proposes the idea of the Peace Corps. You can read more about this historic speech via the Founding Moment page of the Peace Corps website.  

You can listen to Kennedy's speech below:

Video of President Kennedy Outlining Peace Corps Program in March 1961

Many IHEC Blog readers know of my interest in the history of international exchanges and public diplomacy efforts. I came across the following YouTube video which is a partial newsreel of President Kennedy introducing the Peace Corps. I hope you find this video snippet interesting.




Please see my previous posts on the Peace Corps here.