The Peace Corps Research Paper

“The founding of the Peace Corps is one of President John F. Kennedy’s most enduring legacies.” (Founding). As soon as President Kennedy became the President, he vowed to help Americans be “active citizens.” One of his first moves in office was to create the Peace Corps. The way he came up with this idea of the Peace Corps was when he spoke to students at the University of Michigan during a campaign speech and challenged them to live and work in other countries to dedicate “themselves to the cause of peace and development.” (Peace). The main purpose for this was so “Americans can volunteer to work anywhere in the world where assistance is needed.” (John F. Kennedy, the 35th). This answers President Kennedy’s call to “ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.” (Founding).

Freedom Summer was a nonviolent effort by civil rights activists to integrate Mississippi's segregated political system during 1964. It raised the consciousness of millions of people to the troubles of African-Americans and the need for change. Americans all around the country were shocked by the killing of civil rights workers and the brutality they witnessed on their televisions. For nearly a century, segregation had prevented most African-Americans in Mississippi from voting or holding public office. Segregated housing, schools, workplaces, and public accommodations denied black Mississippians access to political or economic power.

In March 1, 1961, President John F. Kennedy issues Executive Order #10924, establishing the Peace Corps as a new agency within the Department of State. The same day, he sent a message to Congress asking for permanent funding for the agency, which would send trained American men and women to foreign nations to assist in development efforts. The Peace Corps captured the imagination of the U.S. public, and during the week after its creation thousands of letters poured into Washington from young Americans hoping to volunteer.

It showed how America was handling the Cold War in a civil and inoffensive way. “The Americans ,of whatever age would be sought along to not only defend the country should be given an opportunity.” The Soviet Union communism expansion threatened the country, but American reactions were justified because they were appropriate and not impulsive. The Soviet propaganda pitted against the US was brash and audacious. Propaganda affected many people from other nations around the world and took a say in the general opinion of America. The Peace Corps representing America was the best possible and justifiable reaction of the US because it portrayed the country as passive and non-aggressive. The purpose of the Peace Corps was to spread the ways of democratic government and the nonviolent ways of the US. As well as, “This can only be countered by skill and dedication of Americans who are willing to spend their lives serving the cause of freedom.” The reputation of America was not well, and needed to be better represented at that time. The Peace Corps Organization was completely justifiable because it showed how the US was a not a dominating world superpower, contrary to the Soviet

In order to talk about the Freedom Summer project, we first have to identify it’s roots and the history behind it. Before the Freedom Summer project, there was the civil right movement in which thousands of African Americans protested for equality. Equality didn’t mean the term referred in the court case Plessy vs Ferguson “separate but equal.” African Americans wanted to end the era of segregation, this include not having to use lower quality public facilities than whites, not having to give their seats in a bus if a white person wanted to sit there, and the right to vote. With the help of different civil right activist such as Bayard Rustin, Jo Ann Robinson, Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, and all the people that marched and protested against

He said like the Americans experienced hardships on the frontier in the 1900’s we had to face new challenges to achieve goals in space, science, and education. Kennedy also created the peace corps in 1961, which was a program where Americans volunteered to perform service in other nations. Kennedy promised a lot of things during his presidency but was sadly unable to complete them because of his assassination on November 22, 1963. Dwight D. Eisenhower, president from 1953 to 1961, also made an impact on the US during his presidency. During his presidency, he strengthened social security, created a huge highway interstate system but failed to protect African American rights.

“Conflict Resolution is an essential element of life, but a task filled with so many diverse issues, that not many can engage in it without feeling a bit unprepared. Through the grace of God we have been given a wonderful ministry of reconciliation and direct commands to live at peace with others”. (Nemitz, 2013) In 1 Corinthians 10:31, the Apostle Paul teaches that conflict provides opportunities to glorify God, to serve others, and to grow to be like Christ. This concern for faithfulness to God, compassion and mercy towards others, and righteous behavior is echoed throughout Scripture. In Michah 6:8 we are told, “He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does

In the Summer of 1964, the Mississippi Summer Project, also known as Freedom Summer, was organized by several Civil Rights organizations such as the Student Nonviolent Coordination Committee and the Congress on Racial Equality. The event that caused the start of Freedom Summer were that many African-Americans were not registered to vote, this was because the southern states had implemented literacy tests that were unfair and could be interpreted differently, and Poll Taxes which were ridiculous amounts to pay ("Freedom Summer"). Other causes include the case of Plessy Vs. Ferguson, which stated the “Separate but Equal” clause, and also Racial segregation. Freedom Summer Volunteers included White Northerners, and the organization was made to focus on the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, Voter Registration, Freedom Schools, and Community Centers (“Timeline: Freedom Summer”). There was a need for the Freedom Summer because Many African-American People in the south were being oppressed by Literacy Tests and Poll Taxes.

According to the Peace Corps website, “The Peace Corps is a service opportunity for motived change makers to immerse themselves in a community abroad, working side by side with local leaders to tackle the most pressing challenges of our generation.” The West Michigan chapter and the entirety of the Peace Corps hold the same values and missions. They want to promote world peace and friendship by fulfilling three goals, according to the Peace Corps website. According to their website, the three goals are: To help the people of interested countries in meeting their need for trained men and women, to help promote a better understanding of Americans on part of the peoples served, and to help promote a better understanding of other peoples on the

I came to St. Louis job corps in June with goals of getting a high school diploma and doing carpentry. A few people were telling me that I was not going to be able to get the program but I push the issued. My family needed me to experience this so it would give me structure in life and figure out how to be a man. In secondary school all I wanted to do was play games and goofy off and go to the boxing gym and not do my work while every one of my peers advanced on and I didn’t. When I really got selected in this program I was thinking this was a joke or it wasn't for me, before I even gave it a chance yet I began to understand this is my last chance in discovering what it is to be successful in life.

Humanitarian action is what the world turns to in case there is a crisis in any part of the world. But as David Rieff suggests in his book, “A Bed for the Night: Humanitarianism in Crisis,” there is a crisis in the humanitarian world and space. He draws from first personal experience in places like Bosnia, Rwanda and Kosovo to tell how some of the challenges humanitarian organizations face; including their struggle to be neutral and apolitical.

The within the leadership of Kennedy he was able to create an environment that opened more communication. Kennedy led in a way that all task to be covered under his administration were done that no one felt that he was a dictator. An example of this act is John F. Kennedy asked the congress to create the Peace Corps. The Peace Corps is a program created that was established by the Executive Order in 1961 and was authorized by the U.S. Congress. This is a volunteer program ran by the government with the mission of providing technical assistance, helping people outside the United States to understand the culture while helping American understand the culture of other countries. Kennedy also founded another program the New Frontier this program promised federal funding for education, economic aid to rural regions, medical assistant and care for the elderly and the intervention to bring a stop to the recession. Reagan policies known as “Reaganomics” were aimed at controlling inflation and spurring the economic growth this was to be done through tax cuts and the reduction in government spending.

The debate of humanitarian intervention and the responsibility to protect have been discussed in international relations discourse more seriously within the last 60 years. The major historical developments which have led to an increase in the intensity of these debates have had beneficial and detrimental effects on Earth within the last 20 years. Several factors have contributed to this including; globalization, the rise in international accountability, an increase humanitarian consciousness to prevent major atrocities from occurring, the expansion of territorial to global responsibility of the western world, and the realization of the western world that regional sovereignty no longer accounts for national security. To develop an opinion

The 1960s were a time of revolutionary ideas and new modes of expression. These new ways of thinking and speaking opened the door to major reforms of American society and culture. People were now standing up for what they believed in, for example, protesting against the mistreatment of African-Americans and refusing to follow the Military Selective Service Act, a law which forced men between the ages 18-26 to fight in the controversial Vietnam War (Youth Movement). Not everyone embraced this new attitude that contained a challenge to existing governmental authority. As an expert on the draft, Phillip MacFarlane wrote, “ Some critics decry the loss of the citizen-soldier as a threat to democracy”(MacFarlane). One prominent anti-war figure

Humanitarian intervention is the act when states intervene in the affairs of another state because that state is violating the basic human rights of its civilians or because it is in the intervening state’s self interest to get involved. (Humanitarian, 2008) These interventions are not specifically aimed at violating the sovereignty of a state, but rather their purpose is to protect the basic human rights of civilians during civil wars and during crime against humanity. (Humanitarian, 2008) Realism explains that humanitarian intervention came about during the genocide in Bosnia but not in Rwanda because even though it might have been the correct moral action to take, intervention in Rwanda was not in the national interest of other