Sargent Shriver, first Peace Corps director, dies at 95
R. Sargent Shriver — the first Peace Corps director, one-time vice-presidential nominee, and most famous Kennedy in-law — died Tuesday in his native Maryland. He was 95 and had been suffering from Alzheimer’s since 2003.
While he never held elected office, the idealistic Shriver had one the most of distinguished records of public service of any American from the World War II generation.
He urged his brother-in-law, President Kennedy, to create the Peace Corps and then became its director, creating an organization that ultimately would send hundreds of thousands of young Americans abroad as ambassadors of goodwill.
Shriver continued in public service following Kennedy’s assassination, leading President Johnson’s War on Poverty and overseeing such iconic Great Society programs as Head Start, VISTA, Legal Services for the poor, and the Job Corps....
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While he never held elected office, the idealistic Shriver had one the most of distinguished records of public service of any American from the World War II generation.
He urged his brother-in-law, President Kennedy, to create the Peace Corps and then became its director, creating an organization that ultimately would send hundreds of thousands of young Americans abroad as ambassadors of goodwill.
Shriver continued in public service following Kennedy’s assassination, leading President Johnson’s War on Poverty and overseeing such iconic Great Society programs as Head Start, VISTA, Legal Services for the poor, and the Job Corps....