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| Sargent Shriver, director of the Peace Corps, (center) and U.S. President John F. Kennedy (right) at the White House. 28 August 1961. (Photographer: Abbie Rowe. Source: John F. Kennedy Presidential Library.) |
VOA News
19 January 2011
Veteran U.S. politician and former Peace Corps director Sargent Shriver has died. He was 95 years old.
Shriver entered a hospital outside Washington Monday for an undisclosed illness, but he had been suffering from Alzheimer's Disease.
Sargent Shriver was the brother-in-law of U.S. President John F. Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1963.
He also was the brother-in-law of Robert F. Kennedy, the former U.S. senator and presidential candidate assassinated in 1968, and Massachusetts Senator Edward Kennedy, who died in 2009.
Shriver was married to their sister, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, who founded the Special Olympics program for the mentally disabled in 1968. She died in 2009.
Sargent Shriver was the first director of the Peace Corps, the volunteer program that allows Americans to serve in underdeveloped countries. The program was established under President Kennedy.
Additionally, Shriver was Democratic presidential nominee George McGovern's vice presidential running mate in 1972.
In 1994, Shriver received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest U.S. civilian honor.
Shriver was the father of Maria Shriver, who is married to Arnold Schwarzenegger, the former Republican governor of California.
From Lisasolicious:
ReplyDelete"What a long life....to see the things he's done!
My thoughts are with Maria and her children..."
From gldysrwombats:
ReplyDelete"Rest in Peace."
From bluevalentine_01:
ReplyDelete"A long life, well lived. Peace Corps, War on Poverty, Special Olympics.
R.I.P., gentle warrior."
From victor-200:
ReplyDelete"I just remember reading about him from the Watergate scandal.*
He's Maria Shriver's (Governor Schwarzenegger's wife) dad, too I recall."
* [Note from Mark: In 1973, Shriver gave a speech titled "Nixon resignation could be act of statesmanship".]