Following World War II, President Dwight D. Eisenhower wanted to create a program that would help to promote peace throughout the world. In 1956, he created the "Sister Cities International" organization as a means to promote "peace through people" with citizen diplomacy. He believed that “if we are going to take advantage of the assumption that all people want peace, then the problem is for people to get together and to leap governments—if necessary to evade governments—to work out not one method but thousands of methods by which people can gradually learn a little bit more of each other.”
Lexington and Deauville become Sister Cities:
In August of 1957, Lexington and Deauville twinning during an official ceremony in Deauville. Mrs. Lyman Wagers represented Lexington Mayor Shelby Kinkead.
In October of 1957, Deauville Mayor Robert Fossorier visited Lexington for the official ceremony of the twinning.
The two cities beginning this relationship made sense because of the common bond of the horse industry. To learn more about Deauville and it's connection to the horse, visit here.
During the summers of 1958 and 1959, 40 high school students studied in Deauville for 6 weeks.
Though the program lay dormant for many years, it was revitalized in 1973 by Mayor Foster Pettit and French teacher Betty Mills. They created the first Sister Cities Committee.
We will continue the history of the Lexington-Deauville Sister Cities relationship - stay tuned!
To watch President Eisenhower's speech introducing the Sister Cities program, check it out here.
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