"SHE SET OUT TO CHANGE THE WORLD & TO CHANGE US"

JFK'S SISTER EUNICE MARRIES SARGENT SHRIVER

New York City (JFK+50) On May 23, 1953, Eunice Kennedy*, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. and sister of Massachusetts Senator John F. Kennedy,  was married to Robert Sargent Shriver, Jr. at St. Patrick's Cathedral here in New York City.

Francis Cardinal Spellman officiated the nuptial mass.  The bride wore a white Christian Dior gown with a fitted bodice.

Upon Eunice's passing, the Shriver family issued this statement...

"She was a living prayer, a living advocate, a living center of power.  She set out to change the world and to change us and she did that and more."

*Eunice Mary Kennedy Shriver (1921-2009) was born in Brookline, MA & graduated from Stanford University.  EMKS worked in the State Dept & Justice Dept & also did social work.  She was an advocate for children's health & disabilities.  Eunice founded the Special Olympics in 1968.  

Governor Frank Clement, Rose Kennedy

Eunice and Sargent Shriver

Founding of the JFK Center

 May 29, 1965

www.kc.vanderbilt.edu

GIVE JACKIE ANY DAMN THING WE'VE GOT

LBJ DISCUSSES KENNEDYS IN SECRET RECORDED CONVERSATION

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) Fifty-four years ago, Wednesday, December 11, 1963, President Lyndon B. Johnson discussed his relationship with the Kennedy family in the privacy of the Oval Office.  

This discussion, however, was recorded for posterity via the hidden taping system installed in the West Wing.  The conversation, along with others, is available at the University of Virginia/Miller Center website.

President Johnson, just two days shy of one month in office, is first heard saying...

"you tell me what to do about Bobby (Robert F. Kennedy, Attorney General)."

LBJ then discusses Sargent Shriver*.  He says that he likes him, gets along with him and that the Peace Corps director "boosted me a little bit."

The President also, in reference to Mrs. Jacqueline Kennedy, says...

"I love her.  We're thinking of her."

He adds that he believes Mrs. Kennedy "acts like she enjoys" talking with him and offers to give her...

 "any damn thing we've got...while she's here (in the White House)."

*R. Sargent Shriver (1915-2011) was born in Westminster, Maryland & graduated from Yale where he also received his law degree in 1941.  He served in the US Navy in WWII & earned the Purple Heart at Guadalcanal.
RSS was hired by Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. to manage Chicago's Merchandise Mart & served as Peace Corps director from 1961-1966.

SOURCE

"LBJ Discusses Relations with the Kennedy Family", Office Conversation, December 11, 1963, Secret White House Tapes/LBJ Presidency, UVA/Miller Center, www.millercenter.org/

Bob McNamara & LBJ

The Oval Office

November 27, 1967

Photo by Yoichi Okamoto

LBJ Museum & Library Image

PEACE CORPS CREATED BY JFK 52 YEARS AGO TODAY

March 1, 2013

PEACE CORPS CREATED BY JFK 52 YEARS AGO TODAY

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) President John F. Kennedy signed Executive Order #10924 52 years ago today, on March 1, 1961, creating the Peace Corps.

                    Official Peace Corps Logo


Although a proposal had been introduced by Senator Hubert Humphrey (D) Minnesota in 1957, Senator John F. Kennedy first spoke of a "peace corps" at the University of Michigan during his presidential campaign on November 1, 1960.

JFK saw the corps as both a means of giving young Americans the opportunity to answer his inaugural call to service "...ask what you can do for your country" & to counter anti-American viewpoints around the world.

Congress authorized the Peace Corps on September 22, 1961 & within 2 years the organization had 7300 volunteers serving in 44 nations around the globe.

The 1st group of Peace Corps volunteers went to Ghana & Tanzania.

Since 1961, the PC has sent more than 210,000 American citizens to 139 countries.

         JFK greets Peace Corps volunteers
              Photo by Abbie Rowe (1961)
                 National Archives image

JFK appointed Sargent Shriver* as the 1st director of the Peace Corps.

*R. Sargent Shriver (1915-2011) was born in Westminster, Maryland & graduated from Yale where he also received his law degree in 1941.  He served in the US Navy in WWII & earned the Purple Heart at Guadalcanal.

Sarge was hired by Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. to manage Chicago's Merchandise Mart & served as Peace Corps director from 1961-1966.

He married JFK's sister, Eunice & died at the age of 95 in Bethesda, MD.

                   Sargent Shriver & JFK
            West Wing at the White House
                          August 28, 1961
                     Photo by Abbie Rowe

EUNICE KENNEDY MARRIES SARGENT SHRIVER

May 23, 1953


EUNICE KENNEDY MARRIES SARGENT SHRIVER


Daughter of Mr. & Mrs. Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. & sister of Massachusetts Senator John F. Kennedy, Eunice Kennedy was married to Robert Sargent Shriver, Jr. today at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City.


Eunice Kennedy is 31 years old while her husband is 37.


Francis Cardinal Spellman officiated the nuptial mass.  


The bride wore a white Christian Dior gown with a fitted bodice.*


*Eunice Kennedy Shriver was the founder of the Special Olympics.  She died at the age of 88 on August 11, 2009.  


The Shriver family issued a statement which read:


"She was a living prayer, a living advocate, a living center of power.  She set out to change the world & to change us & she did that & more."


President Obama said:


"She was an extraordinary woman who taught our nation & our world that no physical or mental barrier can restrain the power of the human spirit."

Governor Frank Clement, Rose Kennedy
                Eunice & Sargent Shriver
             Founding of the JFK Center
                         May 29, 1965
                www.kc.vanderbilt.edu


May 23, 1955


JACK KENNEDY RETURNS TO THE SENATE


After recuperation of several months at the home of his parents, Mr. & Mrs. Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr., Senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts resumed his Senate duties today.


Senator Kennedy was recovering from back surgery. He arrived in Washington, D.C. by plane with his wife, Jacqueline, & his sister, Jean.


When Mr. Kennedy arrived at his office, he found on his desk a card which read:


 "Welcome home!"  It was signed: "Dick Nixon".

JFK at the 1956 Democratic Convention


May 23, 1960


NAZI WAR CRIMINAL CAPTURED


Israel's Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, announced today that Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann has been captured.


Ben-Guiron also said that Eichmann will stand trial in Israel.


Eichmann was the "SS" officer who organized Adolf Hitler's "final solution" which meant death for 6 million Jews & other "undesirables" in the Nazi state.


Adolf Eichmann coordinated the identification, assembly & transport of millions of Jews to the Nazi death camps.


He had been in hiding in Buenos Aires, Argentina using the alias Ricardo Klement.*


*Eichmann was found guilty on all counts & was hanged on May 31, 1962.

Adolf Eichmann in a protective box


May 23, 1963


JFK HELPS DEDICATE MONUMENT TO SAILORS MISSING AT SEA SINCE 1943


President John F. Kennedy spoke today at the dedication of the East Coast Memorial to the Missing at Sea.  


The monument, located in New York's Battery Park,  pays tribute to 4500 American servicemen who were lost in action in the Western Atlantic Ocean during WWII.


In a brief address, JFK said:


"Every generation of Americans must be expected to do their part to maintain freedom for their country."


The President also talked about a prayer inscribed on plaques given to new submarine captains by Admiral Hyman Rickover. 


The Admiral had given one of the plaques to the President who kept it on his Oval Office desk.


The inscription reads:


"O God, Thy Sea Is So Great & My Boat Is So Small."

May 23, 1934


BONNIE & CLYDE ARE KILLED IN AMBUSH


Notorious criminals Clyde Barrow & Bonnie Parker died today in a hail of bullets near Sailes, Louisiana.


The leaders of the Barrow Gang committed robberies & murders in Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, New Mexico & Louisiana.


Captain Frank Hamer had been appointed as special investigator to track down the two outlaws.


Hamer & a group of police officers from Louisiana & Texas hid in the bushes along an old country road & when Parker & Barrow's stolen car appeared they opened fire.


Both Barrow & Parker died instantly.*


*Their story was told in the 1967 film "Bonnie & Clyde: starring Faye Dunaway & Warren Beatty.

         Death Car of Bonnie & Clyde


May 23, 2011


CAROLINE KENNEDY PRESENTS PROFILES IN COURAGE AWARD


JFK's daughter & President of the JFK Library Foundation presented the annual "Profiles In Courage" Award to Elizabeth Redenbaugh & Wael Ghonim & the people of Egypt today at the JFK Library & Museum in Boston, Massachusetts.


The ceremony was presented live "on line" at the JFK Library website.


Mrs. Redenbaugh, a North Carolina school board member, stood up against racial segregation in school districting plans while Wael Ghonim & the people of Egypt in honor of standing up for democratic reforms in their country which inspired similar movements across the Middle East.

         The Profiles In Courage Award