John F. Kennedy

====Peace Corps====
{{main|Peace Corps}}
In one of his first presidential acts, Kennedy signed [[Executive Order]] 10924 that officially started the [[Peace Corps]]. He named his brother-in-law, [[Sargent Shriver]], as its first director.{{sfn|Dallek|2003|pp=338–339}} Through this program, Americans volunteered to help developing countries in fields like education, farming, health care, and construction.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Peace Corps: Traveling The World To Live, Work, And Learn |url=https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/education/teachers/curricular-resources/the-peace-corps-traveling-the-world-to-live-work-and-learn |website=John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum |access-date=31 January 2024 |archive-date=January 31, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240131223635/https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/education/teachers/curricular-resources/the-peace-corps-traveling-the-world-to-live-work-and-learn |url-status=live }}</ref> Kennedy believed that countries that received Peace Corps volunteers were less likely to succumb to a communist revolution.<ref>{{cite web |title=Kennedy's Global Challenges |url=https://www.ushistory.org/us/56c.asp |website=U.S. History: From Pre-Columbian to the New Millennium. |access-date=November 19, 2023 |archive-date=November 19, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231119222120/https://www.ushistory.org/us/56c.asp |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Tanganyika (1961–1964)|Tanganyika]] (present-day [[Tanzania]]) and [[Ghana]] were the first countries to participate.<ref>{{cite web |title=Peace Corps |url=https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/jfk-in-history/peace-corps |website=John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum |access-date=January 27, 2024 |archive-date=December 2, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231202085121/https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/jfk-in-history/peace-corps |url-status=live }}</ref> The organization grew to 5,000 members by March 1963 and 10,000 the year after.{{sfn|Schlesinger|2002|pp=606–607}} Since 1961, over 200,000 Americans have joined the Peace Corps, representing 139 countries.<ref>{{cite book| last1 = Meisler | first1 = Stanley | title = When the World Calls: The Inside Story of the Peace Corps and Its First Fifty Years | publisher = Beacon Press | year = 2011 | isbn = 978-0-8070-5049-1 | url = https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780807050491 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.peacecorps.gov/news/fast-facts/| title = Peace Corps, Fast Facts | access-date = August 2, 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160802133017/https://www.peacecorps.gov/news/fast-facts/ | archive-date=August 2, 2016}}</ref>