"What can change the world today is the same thing that has changed it in the past—an idea and the service of dedicated, committed individuals to that idea."
Address to the Foreign Policy Association, December 11, 1963
Robert Sargent Shriver Jr., the activist and original director for both the Peace Corps and War on Poverty, died Tuesday at the age of 95. A close partner with both the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, Shriver worked to effectively change the understanding of volunteerism, activism, and community development globally.
photo from Peace Corps on Flickr
"The idea that free and committed men and women can cross boundaries of culture and language, or alien tradition and great disparities of wealth, of old hostilities and new nationalities to meet with other men and women on the common ground of service to human welfare and human dignity. And if this idea isn't going to change the world, then this world is beyond redemption."
Address to the Foreign Policy Association, December 11, 1963
Brother-in-law President John F. Kennedy asked Shriver to direct the new "Peace Corps," a national challenge to young American volunteers to work in developing countries around the world. During his almost five years as director, Shriver sent more than 14,500 volunteers to 55 countries and continued to support the program throughout his life.
photo from Peace Corps on Flickr
"The idea which the Peace Corps represents—the American idea—is 'right in itself.' The Peace Corps society—free, open, believing that all men can find fulfillment in service to the common good—that society can be our passkey to the future. Armed with the moral strength of this idea, determined to translate it into the working reality of everyday life, we can change the world. And if we do, it will be these young volunteers, our fellow Americans, who will have shown us the way."
Address to the Foreign Policy Association, December 11, 1963
Shriver with potential Peace Corps recruits.
Photo from Peace Corps on Flickr
"These volunteers have already written a moral to a story that is still being told. That moral: 'A nation cannot require too much of its citizens if the cause is right.'"
National Convention on Religion and Race, January 15, 1963
Shriver meets a Peace Corps volunteer in Tunis, Tunisia.
Photo from Peace Corps on Flickr
"When we speak of peace, we must speak also of justice. For peace is not only the absence of war. Peace must be more. We cannot, as Tacitus said, create a desert and call it peace. Peace must mean not only the absence of war among governments, but also the creation of social justice among peoples. Peace must mean mutual respect and harmonious interchange. Peace must mean removal of the causes which move men to war. Peace must mean furthering the dignity of man and the sanctity of life."
The Quest for Peace, October 4, 1972
Shriver meets students in Turkey. Shriver traveled extensively in support of Peace Corps and as U.S. Ambassador to France in 1968.
Photo from Peace Corps on Flickr
"Politics in its full sense goes far beyond primaries or even general elections. The root of the word politics is polis—the Greek word for the City, or City State. A politician in ancient times was supposed to serve the City. And "serving the City" in that ancient sense is the same as serving the nation and even mankind today. That is the kind of politics we need now—the politics of service."
New York University Commencement, June 10, 1964
Shriver ran for vice president with presidential candidate George McGovern in 1972 and in the primaries for the presidency in 1976. He would say later at his Yale graduating class's 35-year reunion, "I think I got the same number of votes in 1972 for vice president of the United States that I got in 1937 for chairman of the Yale Daily News."
Photo from Peace Corps on Flickr
"Whether a person's working for civil rights or to combat disease and hunger here at home or abroad is irrelevant. The big thing is to be doing it some place."
Television interview with Frank Reynolds, 1965
Shriver directed President Johnson's War on Poverty from its inception, creating such programs as Head Start, Job Corps, VISTA, Community Action Program, Legal Services to the Poor, and Foster Grandparents.
Photo from Peace Corps on Flickr
"It's a platitude to say that we can't exist as an island of plenty in a world of want, but it's true, and if any of you have any hopes about the world in which your children will live, whether it will be a peaceful world and a plentiful world or whether it will be no world at all, I suggest that you get up from behind your desks and carry this message to the people of America. There's only one war, you're in it and with your help, I'm sure we will win it."
Remarks at Peace Corps' Fourth Anniversary Assembly, September 22, 1965
Shriver and wife Eunice Kennedy had five children, Bobby (co-founder of DATA, ONE.ORG, PROJECT(RED), and A Very Special Christmas), Maria (journalist and former First Lady of California), Timothy (Chairman and CEO of Special Olympics), Mark (Senior VP Save the Children's U.S. Programs), and Anthony (Founder and Chairman Best Buddies International).
Photo from Peace Corps on Flickr
"Special Olympics is equality, it is respect. It is opportunity. It is justice. It is purity. Because of what it stands for, for millions of people with and without mental retardation, Special Olympics has become the magnetic north of the moral compass of the world."
Address to the American Association on Mental Retardation, May 21, 1991.
Shriver was an active supporter of wife Eunice Kennedy's organization, Special Olympics, acting as President in 1984 and Chairman of the Board from 1990 to 2003.
Photo from Special Olympics
Robert Sargent Shriver Jr., the activist and original director for both the Peace Corps and War on Poverty, died Tuesday at the age of 95.
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| Remembering R. Sargent Shriver in Words and Pictures by Sara Fletcher |
"What can change the world today is the same thing that has changed it in the past—an idea and the service of dedicated, committed individuals to that idea."
Address to the Foreign Policy Association, December 11, 1963
Robert Sargent Shriver Jr., the activist and original director for both the Peace Corps and War on Poverty, died Tuesday at the age of 95. A close partner with both the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, Shriver worked to effectively change the understanding of volunteerism, activism, and community development globally.
photo from Peace Corps on Flickr
"The idea that free and committed men and women can cross boundaries of culture and language, or alien tradition and great disparities of wealth, of old hostilities and new nationalities to meet with other men and women on the common ground of service to human welfare and human dignity. And if this idea isn't going to change the world, then this world is beyond redemption."
Address to the Foreign Policy Association, December 11, 1963
Brother-in-law President John F. Kennedy asked Shriver to direct the new "Peace Corps," a national challenge to young American volunteers to work in developing countries around the world. During his almost five years as director, Shriver sent more than 14,500 volunteers to 55 countries and continued to support the program throughout his life.
photo from Peace Corps on Flickr
"The idea which the Peace Corps represents—the American idea—is 'right in itself.' The Peace Corps society—free, open, believing that all men can find fulfillment in service to the common good—that society can be our passkey to the future. Armed with the moral strength of this idea, determined to translate it into the working reality of everyday life, we can change the world. And if we do, it will be these young volunteers, our fellow Americans, who will have shown us the way."
Address to the Foreign Policy Association, December 11, 1963
Shriver with potential Peace Corps recruits.
Photo from Peace Corps on Flickr
"These volunteers have already written a moral to a story that is still being told. That moral: 'A nation cannot require too much of its citizens if the cause is right.'"
National Convention on Religion and Race, January 15, 1963
Shriver meets a Peace Corps volunteer in Tunis, Tunisia.
Photo from Peace Corps on Flickr
"When we speak of peace, we must speak also of justice. For peace is not only the absence of war. Peace must be more. We cannot, as Tacitus said, create a desert and call it peace. Peace must mean not only the absence of war among governments, but also the creation of social justice among peoples. Peace must mean mutual respect and harmonious interchange. Peace must mean removal of the causes which move men to war. Peace must mean furthering the dignity of man and the sanctity of life."
The Quest for Peace, October 4, 1972
Shriver meets students in Turkey. Shriver traveled extensively in support of Peace Corps and as U.S. Ambassador to France in 1968.
Photo from Peace Corps on Flickr
"Politics in its full sense goes far beyond primaries or even general elections. The root of the word politics is polis—the Greek word for the City, or City State. A politician in ancient times was supposed to serve the City. And "serving the City" in that ancient sense is the same as serving the nation and even mankind today. That is the kind of politics we need now—the politics of service."
New York University Commencement, June 10, 1964
Shriver ran for vice president with presidential candidate George McGovern in 1972 and in the primaries for the presidency in 1976. He would say later at his Yale graduating class's 35-year reunion, "I think I got the same number of votes in 1972 for vice president of the United States that I got in 1937 for chairman of the Yale Daily News."
Photo from Peace Corps on Flickr
"Whether a person's working for civil rights or to combat disease and hunger here at home or abroad is irrelevant. The big thing is to be doing it some place."
Television interview with Frank Reynolds, 1965
Shriver directed President Johnson's War on Poverty from its inception, creating such programs as Head Start, Job Corps, VISTA, Community Action Program, Legal Services to the Poor, and Foster Grandparents.
Photo from Peace Corps on Flickr
"It's a platitude to say that we can't exist as an island of plenty in a world of want, but it's true, and if any of you have any hopes about the world in which your children will live, whether it will be a peaceful world and a plentiful world or whether it will be no world at all, I suggest that you get up from behind your desks and carry this message to the people of America. There's only one war, you're in it and with your help, I'm sure we will win it."
Remarks at Peace Corps' Fourth Anniversary Assembly, September 22, 1965
Shriver and wife Eunice Kennedy had five children, Bobby (co-founder of DATA, ONE.ORG, PROJECT(RED), and A Very Special Christmas), Maria (journalist and former First Lady of California), Timothy (Chairman and CEO of Special Olympics), Mark (Senior VP Save the Children's U.S. Programs), and Anthony (Founder and Chairman Best Buddies International).
Photo from Peace Corps on Flickr
"Special Olympics is equality, it is respect. It is opportunity. It is justice. It is purity. Because of what it stands for, for millions of people with and without mental retardation, Special Olympics has become the magnetic north of the moral compass of the world."
Address to the American Association on Mental Retardation, May 21, 1991.
Shriver was an active supporter of wife Eunice Kennedy's organization, Special Olympics, acting as President in 1984 and Chairman of the Board from 1990 to 2003.
Photo from Special Olympics
