Sarge: The Life and Times of Sargent Shriver (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This is a superbly researched, immensely readable political biography by Stossel, a senior editor at the Atlantic Monthly. Although Sargent Shriver (b. 1915) was never victorious in electoral politics, he emerges here as one of the more adept and dedicated public servants of the 20th century. His early professional direction was determined less by his own ambition than by his relationship to the Kennedys through his marriage to John and Robert Kennedy's sister Eunice. Suspending his own political aspirations to devote his efforts to John's 1960 presidential campaign, he went on to serve as the first director of the Peace Corps. Worried about charges of nepotism, Shriver agreed to serve only if Kennedy put his nomination before the Senate for review. In the minds of many, he would never emerge from his connection to the Kennedys, but his legacy, as Stossel argues convincingly, is impressive in its own right. Shriver headed the War on Poverty for President Johnson, which led to the eventual creations of VISTA and Head Start, and other services for the poor. He later served as ambassador to France, created the Special Olympics, ran for vice-president with George McGovern in 1972, and was a candidate for the presidential nomination in 1976. While some may find Stossel's view of Shriver hagiographic, that may have less to do with Stossel than with his subject, an inspiring figure whose life reaffirms the power of politics and government to effect positive, creative change. Set against a century of totalitarianism, war and gross inhumanity, Shriver's devotion to the "empowerment of impoverished groups" is a model of integrity and idealism. 40 b&w photos.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From The Washington Post

At the age of 88 and suffering from the early stages of Alzheimer's, R. Sargent Shriver is as well known for being President John F. Kennedy's brother-in-law and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's father-in-law as he is for being the father of the Peace Corps, Job Corps, Head Start and the Special Olympics.

In spite of his accomplishments, Shriver has often been labeled a "lightweight." His good looks, family connections, aura of celebrity and super-salesmanship all were burdens as well as blessings, conveying the impression that he lacked the political instincts and intellectual capacity to win power on his own and wield it with authority.

In this lengthy but lively biography, the journalist Scott Stossel explains in exhaustive detail how Shriver translated vague mandates to found an international service program and wage war on poverty into the creation of some of the most successful social programs of the past half-century. He fought for the independence of his new agencies, saving them from being swallowed up by existing government bureaucracies. He made sure they would not be merely pilot projects, understanding that only large-scale efforts would capture the public imagination. Thus, he enrolled more than 500,000 children in Head Start during its first summer, so that, as he shrewdly said, "No Congress and no President can ever destroy it."

Long before the label was fashionable, Shriver was a neoliberal skeptic of big government, launching and leading federal agencies that avoided bureaucratic bloat and enlisted the energies of youthful volunteers, community activists and the business community. His approach to government arose out of his religious faith and his experiences in business, civic activism and local government, including service as president of the Chicago Catholic Interracial Council and the city's Board of Education. By the time two successive presidents asked his advice, Shriver had developed ideas about the importance of community action, early childhood education, vocational training for troubled teenagers and opportunities for young people to immerse themselves in the cultures of other countries.

Shriver's public life was also shaped by his family life. In 1946, while wooing Eunice Kennedy, Shriver received a job offer from her father, Joseph P. Kennedy. It evolved into an apprenticeship with a multimillionaire whose machinations rivaled those of Donald Trump today. Shriver would manage the elder Kennedy's Merchandise Mart in Chicago, marry Eunice, work in John F. Kennedy's senatorial and presidential campaigns and assist the Kennedy family's charities. But, Stossel contends, John, Edward and especially Robert Kennedy never fully accepted their brother-in-law as a brother in arms.

Heading the Peace Corps and later the Office of Economic Opportunity from 1961 through 1968, Shriver was caught in the crossfire between Lyndon B. Johnson and the Kennedy family and its allies. Sensing the opportunity to win over one Kennedy, LBJ gave Shriver "the Johnson treatment." When Shriver was creating the Peace Corps, JFK's inner circle wanted to submerge it in the State Department, but LBJ helped Shriver keep it independent.

After Kennedy was assassinated, Johnson reached out to Shriver, who reciprocated, while Robert Kennedy and most of his loyalists were cool to the crude Texan. Thus, Shriver offended some Kennedy family members and supporters who, Stossel writes, vetoed his vice-presidential aspirations in 1964 and 1968.

Stossel exaggerates Shriver's potential as a candidate, maintaining that Hubert H. Humphrey would have won the 1968 presidential election with Shriver as his running-mate. He claims that Shriver would have brought the ticket more "Catholic and ethnic voters," including "a few thousand more votes among the Catholic Poles of Milwaukee." In fact, Humphrey's vice-presidential choice, Maine Senator Edmund Muskie, himself a Catholic of Polish ancestry, ran strongly among blue-collar voters. Four years later, as George McGovern's running mate, Shriver ran a spirited race but was often awkward among working-class voters, famously ordering a Courvoisier in a workingman's bar in Youngstown, Ohio. While Shriver was interested in the inner cities and welcome in rural villages or presidential palaces overseas, he was out of place among workaday Americans and didn't win a single primary when he sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 1976.

He didn't win the White House, but he changed millions of lives. Head Start alone has helped prepare 20 million children to do better in school. Few presidents have accomplished more than the man everyone calls "Sarge." If he was a lightweight or a limousine liberal, we could use many more like him.

Reviewed by David Kusnet

Copyright 2004, The Washington Post Co. All Rights Reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 704 pages
• Publisher: Smithsonian; Jacket Torn edition (May 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1588341275
• ISBN-13: 978-1588341273
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.5 x 2.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #517,853 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very readable (and inspiring, too), May 8, 2004

By A Customer

I found this book to be a fascinating way to look at 20th century American history through the prism of a very inspiring man's life. It was also pretty interesting to get the inside scoop on some of the personalities and behind-the-scenes maneuverings that shaped major events in our nation's history. What was maybe most interesting to me, though, was the thoughtful way the book explored what it was like for Shriver being sort-of-but-not-quite a Kennedy. Both the book and Shriver himself are inspiring. It seems like they don't make people like him anymore!

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sarge is awesome, April 23, 2004

By A Customer

This is one of the best biographies I have ever read. I was fascinated by Sarge's life and he is the coolest Kennedy. Stossel is a great writer and he is able to make political writing fun. I recommend this book to anyone interested in politics, the Kennedies, or biographies.
A really good book.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a returned Peace Corps Volunteer, May 3, 2004

By	Book Maven "book maven" (Washington, DC USA) - See all my reviews

When I was a Peace Corps volunteer in Nepal in the 1960s, Sarge Shriver was one of my heroes. This eloquent book makes him even more of a hero, a passionate idealistic citizen who has made a difference in so many arenas in American life. In a time when Americans view their leaders with such mistrust, this is an esssential book and a guide to how a good man can change the world without losing his goodness.