The Kennedys

by Brian Williams on Monday, January 17, 2011 at 3:18pm

If news reports and e-mails from friends are correct, Sargent Shriver may be nearing the end of his life. While these past few years have been spent in the grips of dementia, his life is a perfect mirror of his times and his circumstance. He became a Kennedy by marriage, and a public servant by reflex. The jobs he performed under various presidents made life better for countless Americans, and improved American relations overseas.

I'm linking above to a telephone conversation. History buffs will find it fascinating, as will anyone who thinks THEY have been talked into something. Shriver was Director of the Peace Corps in 1964, when President Johnson decided he should also run the Government's war on poverty. When Shriver answers the phone, he doesn't stand a chance against LBJ's bulldozer. It just takes him several tries, and several minutes, to realize it!

Our thoughts and prayers are with his family. We hope you can join us for tonight's broadcast.

R. Sargent Shriver in critical condition in Md.

(AP) – 5 hours ago

BETHESDA, Md. (AP) — Former Peace Corps director and vice-presidential nominee R. Sargent Shriver was in critical condition Monday at a hospital in Maryland, a spokeswoman for the family said.

The 95-year-old was admitted at Suburban Hospital in Bethesda early in the day, the family said in an e-mail statement attributed to spokeswoman Kirsten Seckler.

No other details about his ailment were released and no more information about his condition was available late Monday. Shriver announced in 2003 that he had Alzheimer's disease.

He served as the first Peace Corps director in the administration of his brother-in-law, President John F. Kennedy. He also was Democrat George McGovern's running mate in 1972.

Shriver's wife and Special Olympics Founder Eunice Kennedy Shriver died in 2009 at age 88.

He is also the father of former NBC reporter Maria Shriver, who is married to former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The handsome Shriver is often known first as an in-law. But his achievements are historic in their own right and changed millions of lives: the Peace Corps' first director and the leader of President Lyndon Johnson's "War on Poverty," out of which came such programs as Head Start and Legal Services.

Within the family, he was sometimes relied upon for the hardest tasks. When Jacqueline Kennedy needed the funeral arranged for her assassinated husband, she asked Shriver.

Shriver had fought for integration in Chicago and helped persuade Kennedy to make a crucial decision in the 1960 campaign despite other staffers' fears of a white backlash: When the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was jailed in Georgia that fall, Kennedy phoned King's wife and offered support. His gesture was deeply appreciated by King's family and brought the candidate crucial support.

Soon after taking office, President Kennedy named Shriver to fulfill a campaign promise to start the Peace Corps. Although it was belittled by some as a "kiddie corps," Shriver quickly built the agency into an international institution.

In 1994, Shriver received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, from President Bill Clinton.

Sargent Shriver may be nearing the end of his life.
While these past few years have been spent in the grips of dementia,
his life is a perfect mirror of his times and his circumstance.
He became a Kennedy by marriage,

But thats my point. He did do wrong things, really wrong things
but tried to make up for it - in the end.

Where did you get such detailed info about it from?
In all the books and research Ive done,
Ive never been able to get an account like that.

Read your profile. Just out of interest what is the 16th and 18th amendment
that your not sure about. i live in Australia so things are quite different here.

My prayers are with them.he is a great man.

Thanks David. it is fascanating (Im sure i haven't spelt that right) talking to you

It is a bad family, full of dope addicts, rapists, alcoholics, liberals and murderers.

It is a bad family, full of dope addicts, rapists, alcoholics, liberals and murderers.

Really David, this is offensive. It's sort of like saying
"The Taliban is bad because they stone people,
throw acid at women, blow up innocent people and are conservative."

As the old saying goes - "he who is without sin should cast the first stone".

Speaking of golf - you'll have to give me a mulligan on this one, David.
I didn't express my thought very well. Not so much on the Kennedy's,
but on throwing the word liberal into your list of sins.
Back when the phone stops...

My point is these crimes don't have anything to do with being liberal or conservative. Committing atrocities should not be lumped in with these political terms. Any group of people are capable of evil acts given the right circumstances and motives. As the old saying goes - "he who is without sin should cast the first stone".