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Current Events => Breaking News => Topic started by: Ralph Wiggum on January 18, 2011, 03:54:21 PM

Title: Sargent Shriver, Peace Corps Founder and VP Candidate, Dies
Post by: Ralph Wiggum on January 18, 2011, 03:54:21 PM: (http://www.coverbrowser.com/image/time/2583-1.jpg)

Former Democratic vice presidential candidate and Peace Corps founder Robert Sargent Shriver Jr. died today at age 95, family sources told ABC News. Shriver had long suffered from Alzheimer's disease, a cause that his daughter, former California first lady Maria Shriver, championed in recent years.

Serving in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations in the 1960s, Shriver ran the War on Poverty and founded or was an early advocate of groups, including Head Start, VISTA, Job Corps, Community Action, Legal Services, Upward Bound, Foster Grandparents and Special Olympics. President Johnson dubbed him "Mister Poverty" for his work and accomplishments.

He was the U.S. ambassador to France from 1968 to 1970. But Shriver's biggest foray into national politics came in 1972 when George McGovern chose him to replace Thomas Eagleton as his running mate on the ill-fated Democratic ticket. Eagleton had pulled out of the race after revelations that he had been treated for depression and received electroshock therapy. Although McGovern declared that he would back Eagleton "1,000 percent," within a week he asked him to withdraw and picked Shriver, who was well-connected in Democratic politics as a Kennedy family member.

The McGovern-Shriver ticket lost to Richard Nixon and Spiro Agnew in the general election by 23 percentage points, one of the biggest landslides in U.S. presidential history.

LINK (http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/sargent-shriver-dies-peace-corps-founder-vp-candidate/story?id=12627926)
Title: Re: Sargent Shriver, Peace Corps Founder and VP Candidate, Dies
Post by: NHSparky on January 18, 2011, 08:28:47 PM: RIP, Mr. Shriver.
Title: Re: Sargent Shriver, Peace Corps Founder and VP Candidate, Dies
Post by: littlelamb on January 18, 2011, 08:36:04 PM: RIP sir prayers for your family
Title: Re: Sargent Shriver, Peace Corps Founder and VP Candidate, Dies
Post by: IassaFTots on January 18, 2011, 08:43:11 PM: Indeed. Rest in Peace, sir.
Title: Re: Sargent Shriver, Peace Corps Founder and VP Candidate, Dies
Post by: Airwolf on January 18, 2011, 08:56:56 PM: RIP. It's been hard here lately on the Kennedys and their family.
Title: Re: Sargent Shriver, Peace Corps Founder and VP Candidate, Dies
Post by: IassaFTots on January 18, 2011, 09:08:20 PM: Quote from: Airwolf on January 18, 2011, 08:56:56 PM
RIP. It's been hard here lately on the Kennedys and their family.

It certainly has. :(
Title: Re: Sargent Shriver, Peace Corps Founder and VP Candidate, Dies
Post by: longview on January 18, 2011, 10:48:38 PM: RIP, Mr. Shriver. My prayers for his family and friends.
Title: Re: Sargent Shriver, Peace Corps Founder and VP Candidate, Dies
Post by: Boudicca on January 19, 2011, 01:11:39 PM: RIP. He did alot of good in his life, and that's more than some can claim as they exit this mortal coil. :cheersmate: