Kennedy signed Executive Order 10924, fulfilling a campaign promise made in a late-night speech at the University of Michigan the previous October. The agency dispatched idealistic young Americans to serve two-year stints in developing nations, teaching English, building infrastructure, and working in agriculture and health. It became one of the most enduring symbols of Cold War-era American soft power.
The idea crystallized almost by accident. In October 1960, campaigning at 2 a.m. outside the University of Michigan's student union, Kennedy asked a crowd of 10,000 students how many would be willing to serve their country by working in Ghana or India. The response was electric, and students organized a petition within days proving the idea had legs.
Once in office, Kennedy moved fast, appointing his brother-in-law Sargent Shriver to design and run the program. Shriver assembled it in weeks, drawing on models like international volunteer teacher programs already tested informally. The first volunteers shipped out to Ghana and Tanzania by August 1961, teaching in overcrowded classrooms and living without running water or electricity, often to their own surprise as much as their hosts'.
Critics on both sides sniped at it — some saw naive do-goodery, others saw a thin disguise for American influence-peddling during the Cold War's ideological battles for the developing world. But the Peace Corps outlasted the skepticism. By the 2020s, more than 240,000 Americans had served in over 140 countries, and the agency remained a rare government program with genuine bipartisan nostalgia attached to it.