On March 1, 1961, President John F. Kennedy issued an Executive Order establishing the Peace Corps as a new agency within the Department of State. The new agency would send trained American men and women to foreign nations to assist in development efforts.

The link to the Michigan Union is that JFK was on its steps to give the first public announcement of his plan. That was at 2:00am on October 14, 1960 while he was on the campaign trail. A crowd estimated at 10,000 was on hand to hear him. That was a Friday. I’m sure our Rotary meeting the following Wednesday was buzzing with conversation about the event. Unfortunately, we can’t get any first hand recollections. Even Tom Conlin, our longest-serving Rotarian, was almost two years away from joining.

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