Eunice Kennedy Shriver
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| Eunice Kennedy Shriver | |
 Zurab Tsereteli with Eunice Kennedy Shriver (right)
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| Born | Eunice Mary Kennedy July 10, 1921 Brookline, Massachusetts, U.S.A. |
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| Spouse(s) | Robert Sargent Shriver, Jr. |
| Parents | Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. and Rose Kennedy (née Fitzgerald) |
Eunice Mary Kennedy Shriver (born July 10, 1921) is a member of the Kennedy family and helped to found the Special Olympics in the 1960s as a national event. Born in Brookline, Massachusetts, U.S.A., she is the fifth of nine children of Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. and Rose Kennedy (née Fitzgerald).
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[edit] Personal life
Kennedy was educated at The Convent of the Sacred Heart, Roehampton, London, England, and in 1944 graduated from Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, with a Bachelor of Science in Social Science/Social Thought, after which she went to work for the U.S. Department of State, in the Special War Problems division. In 1950, she became a social worker at the then-named Federal Industrial Institution for Women in Alderson, West Virginia, and the following year she moved to Chicago, Illinois, to work with the House of the Good Shepherd and the Chicago Juvenile Court.
On May 23, 1953, she married Robert Sargent Shriver, Jr. at Roman catholic St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City, New York.[1]
Her husband served as the U.S. Ambassador to France from 1968 to 1970 and was the Democratic U.S. Vice Presidential candidate in 1972 (with George McGovern as the candidate for U.S. President).[1]
They have five children: Robert Sargent Shriver III (born April 28, 1954), Maria Owings Shriver (November 6, 1955), Timothy Perry Shriver (August 29, 1959), Mark Kennedy Shriver (February 17, 1964), and Anthony Paul Kennedy Shriver (July 20, 1965).
With her husband, she has nineteen grandchildren, the second-most of any of the children of Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. and Rose Kennedy. Her late brother U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy had eleven children who have produced thirty-two grandchildren.
Upon the death of her sister, Rosemary Kennedy, on January 7, 2005, Shriver became the eldest of the four then-surviving children of Joseph and Rose Kennedy. (Her sister, Patricia Kennedy Lawford, later died on September 17, 2006, leaving just her brother U.S. Senator Edward M. Kennedy and her sister, former U.S. Ambassador to Ireland Jean Kennedy Smith.)
Shriver, who is believed to suffer from Addison's disease [2], has had several health setbacks in recent years, and on November 18, 2007, she was admitted to Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts[3]; she spent several weeks there.[4]
[edit] Political career
Shriver actively campaigned for her elder brother, U.S. President John F. Kennedy, during his successful 1960 U.S. presidential election.
In 1968, she helped Ann McGlone Burke nationalize the Special Olympics movement and is the only woman to have her portrait appear, during her lifetime, on a U.S. coin - the 1995 commemorative Special Olympics silver dollar.
Her daughter, Maria, is married to actor Arnold Schwarzenegger who is currently Governor of California (elected 2003). Shriver, a lifelong Democrat, supported her Republican son-in-law's successful bid.
She and her husband are opponents of abortion, and she has been a supporter of Feminists for Life of America[5], the Susan B. Anthony List[6], and Democrats for Life of America.
On January 28, 2008, she was present at American University, Washington, D.C., when her brother, U.S. Senator Edward M. Kennedy, announced his endorsement of Barack Obama's U.S. presidential campaign [7].
[edit] Charity work and awards
A longtime advocate for children's health and disability issues, Shriver was a key founder of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), a part of the National Institutes of Health, in 1962, and has also helped to establish numerous other health-care facilities and support networks throughout the country.
In 1982, Shriver founded the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Center for Community of Caring at The University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah.
She was awarded the nation's highest civilian award, the (U.S.) Presidential Medal of Freedom, in 1984 by U.S. President Ronald Reagan, because of her work on behalf of those with mental retardation.[8]
For her work in founding the Special Olympics, Shriver received the Civitan International World Citizenship Award.[9] Her advocacy on this issue has also earned her other awards and recognitions, including honorary degrees from numerous universities.[10] [11]
Shriver received the 2002 Theodore Roosevelt Award, an annual award given by the National Collegiate Athletic Association.
In 2008, the U.S. Congress changed the NICHD’s name to the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
On 9 May 2009, the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., unveiled a historic portrait of Eunice Kennedy Shriver, the first portrait the Gallery has ever commissioned of an individual who had not served as a U.S. President or First Lady. The portrait of Mrs. Shriver depicts her with four Special Olympics athletes and one Best Buddies participant and was painted by David Lenz, the winner of the Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition in 2006. As part of the Portrait Competition prize, the National Portrait Gallery commissions a work from the winning artist to depict a living subject for the collection. Lenz, whose son, Sam, has Down syndrome and is an enthusiastic Special Olympics athlete, was inspired by Mrs. Shriver’s dedication to working with people with intellectual disabilities.
Eunice involved Dorothy Hamill's special skating program in the Special Olympics after her Olympic skating win.
[edit] References
- ^ a b JFKLibrary.org/Historical+Resources/Archives/Archives+and+Manuscripts/Shriver.Sargent/fa_shriver_long.htm John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum: "R(obert) Sargent Shriver: An Inventory of His Personal Papers, 1948-1976, Papers (#214) - J" (in the John F. Kennedy Library National Archives and Records Administration)
- ^ Dallek, Robert (2003). An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy, 1917-1963. London: Penguin Books. pp. 105, 731. ISBN 978-0141015354.
- ^ (dead link at March 21, 2009) boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2007/11/24/eunice_kennedy_shriver_in_massachusetts_hospital The Boston Globe, "Eunice Kennedy Shriver in Massachusetts Hospital", November 24, 2007
- ^ boston.com/ae/celebrity/articles/2008/01/14/shes_loyal_to_fathers_ideal/, The Boston Globe, "She's loyal to father's 'Ideal'", by Carol Beggy & Mark Shanahan, January 14, 2008
- ^ "FeministsforLife.org/taf/1998/winter/Winter98-99.pdf The American Feminist, The Quarterly Magazine of Feminists for Life of America, Volume 5, Number 4, Winter 1998-1999, "Remarkable Pro-Life Women", page 18, Eunice Kennedy Shriver. Accessed May 28, 2008.
- ^ "NNDB.com/org/308/000164813 Notable Names Database (NNDB.com), "Susan B. Anthony List". Accessed May 28, 2008.
- ^ TheNation.com/doc/20080211/alexander2, The Nation, "A Torch Passed" by Amy Alexander, January 28, 2008
- ^ reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1984/32684a.htm "Remarks at the Presentation Ceremony for the Presidential Medal of Freedom", March 26, 1984. Archives - Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, administered by the National Archives and Records Administration. Accessed May 28, 2008.
- ^ Armbrester, Margaret E. (1992). The Civitan Story. Birmingham, AL: Ebsco Media. pp. 95.
- ^ "ShriverCenter.org/about_ekshriver.html Eunice Kennedy Shriver Biography "Eunice Kennedy Shriver - Doctor of Public Service", The Shriver Center, The University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Accessed May 28, 2008.
- ^ (broken link at March 21, 2009) Eunice Kennedy Shriver. Executive Vice President, Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. Foundation Founder and Honorary Chairperson, Special Olympics. Accessed May 28, 2008.
[edit] External links
- IMDB.com/name/nm0447885/ main page for Eunice Kennedy Shriver's module at The Internet Movie Database
- SpecialOlympics.org, Special Olympics official website
- NPR.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9136962 National Public Radio - "Eunice Kennedy Shriver's Olympic Legacy" by Joseph Shapiro, Morning Edition, April 5, 2007
- USMint.gov/kids/coinNews/coinOfTheMonth/2002/06.cfm, U.S. Mint "Coin of the Month" page (geared for children) on the 1995 Special Olympics Commemorative Silver Dollar
- CommunityofCaring.org Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Center for Community of Caring (at The University of Utah), official website
| Awards and achievements | ||
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| Preceded by William Cohen |
Theodore Roosevelt Award (NCAA) 2002 |
Succeeded by Donna de Varona |
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