May 22, 1963 - Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy led off the Administration’s fight for a domestic peace corps today by pointing to shameful pockets of deprivation in America where millions live in “unbelievable squalor.” The underprivileged, he said, are found across the nation, from the slums of New York through the mountains and valleys of Alabama and Kentucky to the Indian reservations of the West. Mr. Kennedy told a House Labor subcommittee: “No matter how many orbits our astronauts make, the world will remain unimpressed if we also continue to have second-class citizens whose problems are being ignored.” The subcommittee opened hearings on the Administration’s proposal for a U.S. peace corps, to be known as the National Service Corps. The Administration seeks $5 million to run the corps of 1,000 volunteers in the first year. The proposed legislation would limit its eventual size to 5,000 persons.
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