Kennedy’s greatest hope was for world peace. He fought in World War Two himself, and he saw that war was a terrible thing in which millions of people died. His older brother, Joe, was killed in war. Kennedy did not want to start another war, and he did not want to go to war only because his military advisors told him to.
‘If countries can understand each other better,’ he thought, ‘they will not be so ready to fight.’
Kennedy began to think of ways that he could help world peace. Soon after he became president in 1961, he had a wonderful new idea. He started the Peace Corps for young Americans who wanted to do something to help another country.
The Peace Corps is still going on today. Young people who join the Peace Corps travel to countries like Jamaica, Ghana, and Indonesia. They live there for two years, working with the people in that country and helping them. They do not get any money, but they learn about that country, and the people there learn about the US. Since 1961, more than 200,000 young Americans have joined the Peace Corps. Both Republican and Democratic governments agree that the Peace Corps is a very good thing, and give money to it.
Kennedy did other things to help peace too. On 10 June 1963, he made a famous speech, the Peace Speech, at American University in Washington, D.C. He talked about the dangers of nuclear war, and the need for countries to live side by side in peace.
Young Americans in the Peace Corps
But there was still trouble in some parts of the world. One big problem was Vietnam in Southeast Asia. North Vietnam was a Communist country, but South Vietnam was not. North Vietnam had a strong army, the NLF, which wanted to control South Vietnam, and was already controlling many villages.
President Eisenhower and his government were very worried about North Vietnam. They were afraid that the North Vietnamese Communists would control first South Vietnam, and then other countries in Asia. So they sent money and military advisors to help the South Vietnamese government. When Kennedy became president, his government went on helping South Vietnam.
The leader of the South Vietnamese government was a Catholic politician called Ngô Ɖình Diệm. But sometimes there were problems with Diệm. In 1961, Kennedy sent money to Diệm, who used it to train more soldiers and make the South Vietnamese army stronger.
The US also sent military advisors and soldiers to help with the training. Diệm. trained more soldiers, but he did not use his new army against the Communists; he used it against other Vietnamese who were not Catholics. Many people in Vietnam were very angry and unhappy with Diệm.
After that, the US government did not want to help Diệm any more. They learned that some officers in Diệm’s army were planning to put a new leader in Diệm’s place. The US said it would not stop the army officers, but they wanted to protect Diệm. The army officers promised that Diệm would not be hurt, but then they shot Diệm and his brother. Diệm’s death was a great shock for Kennedy.
In September 1963, the world moved closer to peace. Both the US and USSR had nuclear weapons. After Kennedy became president, he tried many times to get the Soviets to stop testing their weapons. But the Soviets did not stop, so the US went on testing their nuclear weapons too. Then, by October 1963, both sides agreed to stop the tests. Many people saw this as the start of a better relationship between the two countries, and they were very happy with Kennedy.
Eisenhower (left) and Diệm (right) in 1957