Lyndon B. Johnson photo

Statement by the President on the Fourth Anniversary of the Peace Corps.

November 02, 1964

FOUR years ago today John Kennedy proposed the Peace Corps. Then it was a promise. Now it is a reality.

To the 10,000 volunteers serving in 46 countries--to the 110,000 Americans who have applied to become volunteers--go the thanks of this Nation. Through their hard work and devoted service the pioneering tradition of America has been renewed, and our name is honored anew among the developing nations of Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

But this is no time to rest on the achievements of the last 4 years. This is the time to go forward.

In the next 4 years we must double the size and still further raise the quality of the Peace Corps. Nearly every country where volunteers are now serving has asked for more-often two, three, or four times more. Many countries are on the "waiting list." We must not lose this practical opportunity to assist friendly nations in their self-help efforts in peaceful development.

For the next stage of the Peace Corps, we need applications to serve from about 10 percent of the graduating class of our colleges and universities, we need more applications from skilled workers in our factories and on our farms, we need more experienced teachers, more doctors, more nurses, more senior citizens.

And as 5 to 10,000 volunteers return from 2 years of overseas service we must see that their first-hand experience is put to good use, in our schools and universities, in American private enterprise, in our city and State governments, in our war on poverty, and in all our Federal services, including the Foreign Service.

Note: For President Kennedy's proposal of November 2, 1960, see "The Speeches of Senator John F. Kennedy, Presidential Campaign of 1960," p. 1260 (Government Printing Office, 1961).

Lyndon B. Johnson, Statement by the President on the Fourth Anniversary of the Peace Corps. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/241688

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