Alliance for Progress

"To our sister republics south of our border, we offer a special pledge – to convert our good words into good deeds – in a new alliance for progress – to assist free men and free governments in casting off the chains of poverty." -- John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address, January 20, 1961

Kennedy called the Alliance for Progress "a vast cooperative effort, unparalleled in magnitude and nobility of purpose to satisfy the basic needs of the [Latin] American people for homes, work and land, health and schools – techo, trabajo y tierra, salud y escuela."

To advance the work of the Alliance, President and Mrs. Kennedy visited Puerto Rico, Mexico, Venezuela and Colombia, while the president joined all six presidents of Central American governments at an unprecedented meeting in Costa Rica. In ceremonies at the White House, the president and first lady honored the presidents of Peru, Brazil, Panama, Colombia, Honduras, Chile, Venezuela and Bolivia, and Governor Muñoz Marín of Puerto Rico.

This is a collection of the gifts that were exchanged during President and Mrs. Kennedy's State Visit to Latin America as symbolic gestures of the committment to the Alliance.

To learn more see https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/jfk-in-history/alliance-for-progress