What You Won't Read About Sargent Shriver
The encomia have been rolling in for Sargent Shriver, who died on January 18, 2011 at 95 years old.
Married to a Kennedy, the late Eunice Kennedy Shriver, Sargent Shriver exuded his own easy charm. President Kennedy named Shriver the first director of the Peace Corps—people who know the history of the period argue that Shriver in effect founded the Corps. President Johnson named Shriver ambassador to France, and, during the presidential campaign of 1972, Sen. McGovern, the Democratic standard bearer, named Shriver his vice presidential running mate.
All that appears in every one of Sargent’s obits.
What doesn’t appear? That Sargent Shriver, like his wife Eunice, was pro-life.
Below are excerpts from an open letter that appeared in the New York Times in July 1992, during the Democratic Convention. The letter was signed by more than two dozen prominent Americans, including Sargent and Eunice Shriver.
The advocates of abortion on demand falsely assume two things: that women must suffer if the lives of unborn children are legally protected; and that women can only attain equality by having the legal option of destroying their innocent offspring in the womb. The cynicism of these assumptions reflects a terrible failure of moral imagination and social responsibility and an appalling lack of respect for women….
We can choose to reaffirm our respect for human life. We can choose to extend once again the mantle of protection to all members of the human family, including the unborn. We can choose to provide effective care of mothers and children.
And if we make those choices, America will experience a new birth of freedom, bringing with it a renewed spirit of community, compassion, and caring.
Sargent Shriver, R. I. P.
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Jun '10
Re: What You Won't Read About Sargent Shriver
Eunice is the only Kennedy whom I respect. I remember some pro-life writers sharing tales of her commitment to life issue in columns published at the time of her death. (Perhaps her work was inspired by her dad's awful treatment of Rosemary.) The Special Olympics and Peace Corps are a pretty impressive legacy for one couple! R.I.P.
This line is my favorite: " The cynicism of these assumptions reflects a terrible failure of moral imagination and social responsibility and an appalling lack of respect for women…." Sounds like the mission statement for the Sisters of lLfe.
Jun '10
Re: What You Won't Read About Sargent Shriver
And one thing that Sisters of Life, The Peace Corps, and Special Olympics share is hands-on help for those who have chosen life. The idea that we share responsibility for the weakest and most vulnerable among us is a beautiful one. The best way to enourage women with crisis pregancies to choose life is to assure them that we will support that choice with more than just words. Eunice and Sargent Shriver certainly stepped up to the plate.
May '10
Re: What You Won't Read About Sargent Shriver
As you pointed out, Peter, in your Unc. K. interview with Charles Kesler, the decades-long decay in "liberal values" are embodied in the transformation of the Kennedy brand over the last 5 decades.
May '10
Re: What You Won't Read About Sargent Shriver
A powerful appeal.
Jun '10
Re: What You Won't Read About Sargent Shriver
Back in my days as a motorcycle courier I would frequently run deliveries to the Kennedy mansion at Hickory Hill in McLean, Virginia. I can recall one day when I was invited inside to wait for a return package. The entire Kennedy clan was gathered around the TV watching re-runs of Leave It to Beaver. Up close and in person I found them very ordinary. I met Ted a number of times in person. To this day I remember his great pock-marked proboscis, the telltale sign of a hardened alcoholic.
Re: What You Won't Read About Sargent Shriver
A tell-tale silence on the part of the media, Peter.
May '10
Re: What You Won't Read About Sargent Shriver
That opinion would surely change if you knew the contents of those packages....
May '10
Re: What You Won't Read About Sargent Shriver
I'm having a hard time shaking this image.
I'll note that even Ted Kennedy, according to Ramesh Ponnuru in Party of Death, claimed to be pro-life in the early seventies (his experience with Mary Jo Kopechne notwithstanding). From the book:
"(Kennedy) wrote to a constituent in 1971: 'While the deep concern of a woman bearing an unwanted child merits consideration and sympathy, it is my personal feeling that the legalization of abortion on demand is not in accordance with the value which our civilization places on human life... When history looks back to this era it should recognize this generation as one which cared about human beings enough to halt the practice of war, to provide a decent living for every family and to fulfill its responsibility to its children from the very moment of conception.'"
Jun '10
Re: What You Won't Read About Sargent Shriver
"That opinion would surely change if you knew the contents of those packages...."
HAHAHAHA!!!!!!
Jun '10
Re: What You Won't Read About Sargent Shriver
The conversation being had in this thread is a prime example of taking the highroad in the abortion debate. It also puts the lie to the progressive shiboleth that abortion is a poitical issue. It is a moral issue that should not be di rigueur to being a liberal in good standing--which is to say it is not an issue of property rights, as taxation and regulation --it is not "just politics." In the end, it is about who we are and what it is to be human. It seems the Shrivers knew this.