Annotation: “Ask not what your country can do for you …”
How do the words President John F. Kennedy spoke on January 20, 1961 resonate across the decades? On January 20, 1961, John F. Kennedy delivered his inaugural address. The conclusion of that speech inspired a generation — and profoundly shaped the launch of the Peace Corps in 1961. Here are the last three paragraphs. For the 60th anniversary of this speech, we asked returned Volunteers and members of the Peace Corps community from around the world to share how these words resonate across the years. Read the entire address below. And tell us what these words mean to you. Use the comments form or email us....
Volunteers in the House
The 2020 congressional elections mark the end of an era for Peace Corps in Congress: Now there’s only one. And he is working on new legislation to support and improve the Peace Corps. By Jonathan Pearson Photo: John Garamendi The 2020 congressional elections mark the end of an era for Peace Corps in Congress: Since 1975, at least two returned Volunteers served simultaneously in the halls of Congress. Until now. Rep. John Garamendi (D-CA), who served as a Volunteer in Ethiopia 1966–68, was reelected with a relatively comfortable victory, securing 58 percent of the vote in California’s Third District....
Faced with the possibility of a $51 million funding cut, Congress approves full funding for Peace Corps in its Fiscal Year 2021 spending package.
Level funding for Peace Corps in its Fiscal Year 2021 spending package is just one of several Peace Corps community victories as the 116th Congress moves towards adjournment. By Jonathan Pearson Congress delivered a funding victory for Peace Corps: holding steady on funding as the agency prepares for redeployment of Volunteers in 2021 after an unprecedented global evacuation in 2020. In negotiations for a Fiscal Year 2021 spending package, Congress faced a choice of three very different routes: Maintain level funding for the agency at $410.5 million, as it makes plans to begin redeploying Volunteers in 2021; this was the route recommended...