EXPLORATION, ENCOUNTER, EXCHANGE IN HISTORY
associated with storing the excess food as it slowly spoiled.
Dole believed that the Food for Peace program benefited
to food-deficit countries. By its 50th anniversary in 2004, the
21
most inspiring activities ever undertaken by any country in
The program, known as Public Law 480, benefited the
United States by decreasing food surpluses and creating new
markets for its agricultural products, while also providing aid
Food for Peace Program had served 3 billion people in 150
countries, and its work continues today.
16
In 1961 President John F. Kennedy expanded Public Law 480,
renaming it Food for Peace. During his presidential campaign
he stated: “Food is strength, and food is peace, and food is
freedom, and food is a helping hand to people around the
world whose good will and friendship we want.”17
Senator Dole’s involvement with the program started in
1966, when he worked on an amendment that called for
a “Bread and Butter Corps” of U.S. farmers to travel to
developing countries and teach the technical skills needed
to grow and sustain crops. Later renamed Farmer-to-Farmer,
the new provision was written into the 1966 reauthorization
of Food for Peace. The provision required recipient countries
to use the money from the sale of donated American food
surpluses to increase their self-sufficiency.18
Communism was considered a threat throughout most
of Senator Dole’s political career. His constituents made
both the Kansas farm families he represented and people
facing hunger in food insecure countries. He commented:
“This constructive use of U.S. farm abundance is one of the
world history….The program has helped the U.S. maintain
its position as the world’s leading exporter of food and fiber
and shares U.S. abundance with friendly peoples abroad,
effectively supplementing world agricultural trade.”20
T
McGovern-Dole Food Program
he McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and
Child Nutrition Program was established under section
416 of the Agricultural Act of 1949. The program was named
after Senators Dole and McGovern to honor their decades
of work trying to eradicate hunger. The McGovern-Dole
Program’s primary goal is to reduce hunger and improve
literacy in food-deficit countries. It provides training for
teachers and school meals using donated U.S. agricultural
commodities. The program has primarily benefited girls, who
are more likely to attend school if they are provided a meal.21
Although the program is part of the Agricultural Act of 1949,
the McGovern-Dole Program was not signed into law until
May 2002 by President George W. Bush.22 Both McGovern
it known that they did not want food from the U.S. aiding
and Dole were out of office by then, but their efforts to end
sales to countries that conducted any type of commerce
which honors individuals who have made an outstanding
communist countries. Senator Dole strongly advocated that
Food for Peace legislation use clear language that would
support the U.S. anti-communist stance. The bill barred food
with North Vietnam, and also banned sales to countries that
provided Cuba with strategic or military materials.19
childhood hunger persisted past their time in Congress.
In 2008 McGovern and Dole received the World Food Prize,
contribution to improving the quantity, quality, or availability
of food around the globe.23 It is one of the highest honors
in the world of food insecurity. At the time, the McGovernDole program had provided over 22 million meals to
“Food for Peace,” U.S. Food Aid and Security, accessed January 14, 2015, foodaid.org/food-aid-programs/food-for-peace/.
“Food for Peace,” Robert J. Dole Archive and Special Collections at the Dole Institute at the University of Kansas, accessed January 14, 2015, dolearchives.ku.edu/topics_foodpeace.
17
John F. Kennedy, “Remarks of Senator John F. Kennedy at Corn Palace, Mitchell, South Dakota,” John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, September 22, 1960, accessed
January 14, 2015, www.jfklibrary.org/Research/Research-Aids/JFK-Speeches/Mitchell-SD_19600922.aspx.
18
“Food for Peace,” Robert J. Dole Archive and Special Collections at the Dole Institute at the University of Kansas.
19
Ibid.
20
Press Release, 29 April 1969. Senate Papers-Press Releases, Series 9, Box 1, Folder 73, Dole Archives, Dole Institute of Politics, University of Kansas, dolearchivecollections.ku.edu/
collections/press_releases/690429foo.pdf.
21
“McGovern-Dole Food for Education Program,” United States Department of Agriculture, accessed January 14, 2015,
www.fas.usda.gov/programs/mcgovern-dole-food-education-program.
22
“2008: Dole and McGovern,” The World Food Prize, accessed