Sargent Shriver

Robert Sargent Shriver, Jr. ( born November 9, 1915 in Westminster, Carroll County, Maryland, † January 18, 2011 in Bethesda, Maryland ) was an American politician. He ran in 1972 for the vice president of the United States.

Policy

Shriver was co-founder in 1940 of the America First Committee, which opposed a U.S. entry into World War II. He later revised his opinion in this regard.

From 1961 to 1966, he was appointed the first director of John F. Kennedy's Peace Corps. From 1968 to 1970 Shriver was then head of the United States Embassy in France. In the presidential elections in 1972, he was the Democratic candidate for the vice-presidency next presidential candidate George McGovern. The choice fell on him only after the original candidate, Senator Thomas Eagleton of Missouri, his application had been forced to withdraw. It was revealed that Eagleton had undergone electroshock therapy for depression. Shriver was considered, having already had rejected six prominent Democratic politicians. When choosing McGovern and Shriver suffered with only 37.5 percent of the vote one of the clearest defeats in U.S. history. The Republican incumbent Richard Nixon was elected with a large majority.

In the 1976 election Shriver himself to be presidential candidate of the Democrats tried but failed already in the primaries. He scored double-digit results only in the primarys in Vermont (28 percent) and Illinois (16 percent); in both states occupied the later nominated and winning in the choice Jimmy Carter respectively the first place.

Family

Shriver was on May 23, 1953 until her death on August 11, 2009 Eunice Shriver, sister of John F. Kennedy, married. This marriage produced five children:

  • Robert Sargent Shriver III. (Born 1954 ), film producer
  • Maria Owings Shriver ( b. 1955 ), journalist and ex-wife of Arnold Schwarzenegger
  • Timothy Shriver ( b. 1959 )
  • Mark Kennedy Shriver ( b. 1964 )
  • Anthony Shriver ( b. 1965 )

Awards

In 1966 he was awarded the Pacem in Terris Award, conferred by the Diocese of Davenport a Peace Prize. On 8 August 1994, U.S. President Bill Clinton Shriver presented the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the United States.

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