Sargent Shriver

Sargent Shriver
Shriver in 1961
United States Ambassador to France
In office
May 25, 1968 – March 25, 1970
PresidentLyndon B. Johnson
Richard Nixon
Preceded byCharles E. Bohlen
Succeeded byArthur K. Watson
Director of the Office of Economic Opportunity
In office
October 16, 1964 – March 23, 1968
PresidentLyndon B. Johnson
Preceded byPosition established
Succeeded byBertrand Harding
1st Director of the Peace Corps
In office
March 22, 1961 – February 28, 1966
PresidentJohn F. Kennedy
Lyndon B. Johnson
Preceded byPosition established
Succeeded byJack Vaughn
President of the Chicago Board of Education
In office
October 26, 1955 – October 10, 1960
Preceded byWilliam B. Traynor
Succeeded byThomas L. Marshall
Personal details
Born
Robert Sargent Shriver Jr.

(1915-11-09)November 9, 1915
Westminster, Maryland, U.S.
DiedJanuary 18, 2011(2011-01-18) (aged 95)
Bethesda, Maryland, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
Spouse
(m. 1953; died 2009)
Children
RelativesShriver family (by birth)
Kennedy family (by marriage)
EducationYale University (BA, LLB)
Signature
Military service
AllegianceUnited States
Branch/serviceUnited States Navy
Years of service1941–1945
Rank Lieutenant commander
Battles/warsWorld War II
AwardsPurple Heart
American Campaign Medal
Asiatic–Pacific Campaign Medal
World War II Victory Medal[1]

Robert Sargent Shriver Jr. (November 9, 1915 – January 18, 2011) was an American diplomat, politician, and activist. He was a member of the Shriver family by birth, and a member of the Kennedy family through his marriage to Eunice Kennedy. Shriver was the driving force behind the creation of the Peace Corps, and founded the Job Corps, Head Start, VISTA, Upward Bound,[2] and other programs as the architect of the 1960s War on Poverty.[3] He was the Democratic Party's nominee for vice president in the 1972 presidential election.

Born in Westminster, Maryland, Shriver attended Yale University, then Yale Law School, graduating in 1941.[2] An opponent of U.S. entry into World War II, he helped establish the America First Committee but volunteered for the United States Navy before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. During the war, he served in the South Pacific, participating in the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal. After being discharged from the navy, he worked as an assistant editor for Newsweek and met Eunice Kennedy, marrying her in 1953.

He worked on the 1960 presidential campaign of his brother-in-law, John F. Kennedy, and helped establish the Peace Corps after Kennedy's victory. After Kennedy's assassination, Shriver served in the administration of Lyndon B. Johnson and helped establish several anti-poverty programs as director of the Office of Economic Opportunity from October 16, 1964, to March 22, 1968.[4] He also served as the United States Ambassador to France from 1968 to 1970.[2] In 1972, Democratic vice presidential nominee Thomas Eagleton resigned from the ticket, and Shriver was chosen as his replacement. The Democratic ticket of George McGovern and Shriver lost in a landslide election defeat to Republican President Richard Nixon and Vice President Spiro Agnew. Shriver briefly sought the 1976 Democratic presidential nomination but dropped out of the race after the first set of primaries.

After leaving office, he resumed the practice of law, becoming a partner with Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson. He also served as president of the Special Olympics and was briefly a part-owner of the Baltimore Orioles. He was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2003 and died in Bethesda, Maryland, in 2011.[2]

  1. ^ Herbert, Bob (April 23, 2004). "A Muscular Idealism". The New York Times. Retrieved December 5, 2008.
  2. ^ a b c d Reed, Christopher (January 19, 2011). "Sargent Shriver obituary: Brother-in-law of JFK who strove on behalf of America's poor". The Guardian. Retrieved February 22, 2021.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference NYT-obit was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Remarks at the Swearing In of Sargent Shriver as Director, Office of Economic Opportunity. The American Presidency Project. Retrieved 7 May 2015.

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