Apr. 23, 1962 - Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy called today for more Americans to go abroad to explain the United States’ belief in individual freedom and its doctrine that “the state exists for the individual.” This would dispel massive misunderstanding abroad, he said. He also urged other countries to set up peace corps to join American volunteers in aiding less fortunate lands in a “fight for peace.” President Kennedy’s brother told the annual A.P. luncheon at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel that he had been “overwhelmed by the lack of understanding and misinformation” about the U.S. that he had found during his February trip to Indonesia, Japan, and eight other countries. “The next 10 years are going to be the crucial years” in the world struggle with communism for the minds of men, he told the 1,000 executives gathered for the annual Press Week activities in New York. He warned of world interest in American civil rights. He quoted Carlos P. Romulo, just retired as Philippine Ambassador to the U.S., as having told him that “unless we are able to continue to move ahead in this field here in the U.S., we cannot possibly win…if we treat part of our population as inferior human beings.”
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