Citation
“What You Can Do For Your Country”: The Peace Corps and American Foreign Policy, 1969-1998

Material Information

Title:
“What You Can Do For Your Country”: The Peace Corps and American Foreign Policy, 1969-1998
Series Title:
18th Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium
Creator:
Landau, Kelsey
Language:
English

Subjects

Subjects / Keywords:
Center for Undergraduate Research
Psychology/Social Sciences
Genre:
Conference papers and proceedings
poster ( aat )

Notes

Abstract:
In 1961, President John F. Kennedy founded the Peace Corps, a government agency designed to implement cross-cultural exchanges and technical aid in nonaligned Third World countries by sending American volunteers to willing countries. The Peace Corps immediately became a symbol of the American spirit of volunteerism, and, throughout its history, has largely been viewed as a purely humanitarian enterprise. However, I argue that, since its inception, the Peace Corps has been an instrument of American policy to a far greater extent that generally acknowledged. Using the concept of soft power, I contend that the Peace Corps was used to spread democracy and capitalism, and thus bring nonaligned Third World countries into the American sphere of influence, both during and after the Cold War. I also examine one time period, during the presidency of Richard Nixon, when the Peace Corp’s soft power approach was incompatible with the administration’s foreign policy outlook. By examining archival documents, Congressional hearings, and secondary source works, I tell a story of a government agency that has captured both the American and the world’s imaginations like no other, yet, at the same time, existed to serve a specific set of American foreign policy goals. ( en )
General Note:
Research Authors: Kelsey Landau - University of Florida
General Note:
University Scholars Program
General Note:
Faculty Mentor: Louise Newman - History, University of Florida

Record Information

Source Institution:
University of Florida
Rights Management:
Copyright Kelsey Landau and Joshua Corona. Permission granted to University of Florida to digitize and display this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder.

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