[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 55 (Friday, March 24, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E683-E684]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


    REAL FOUNDER OF SPECIAL OLYMPICS HAPPY WITH SELECTION OF SHRIVER

                                 ______


                        HON. ANDREW JACOBS, JR.

                               of indiana

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 23, 1995
  Mr. JACOBS. Mr. Speaker, if one were to say that President John F. 
Kennedy launched the Peace Corps, one would be right. But if one were 
to say that President John F. Kennedy thought up the Peace Corps, one 
would be mistaken. The author was Hubert Humphrey.
  If one were to say that the nobly civil minded Eunice Kennedy Shriver 
brought her considerable talents to bear in order to launch the Special 
Olympics nationally, one would be right. But if one were to say that 
Ms. Shriver thought up the idea of a Special Olympics, one would be 
mistaken. Judge Ann McGlone Burke is the author of the idea.
  As Judge Burke has generously said, she is happy that Ms. Shriver is 
being honored by the 1995 Special Olympics Silver Dollar Commemorative. 
But it is worthwhile too for all Americans to know that Judge Burke 
should also be honored as the author.
    Real Founder of Special Olympics Happy With Selection of Shriver

                         (By Michel E. Orzano)

       The woman who founded the Special Olympics in 1968 is 
     pleased that the games for mentally and physically 
     handicapped children and adults will be recognized with a 
     commemorative coin.
       But her portrait won't be the one on the 1995 Special 
     Olympics silver dollar commemorative. That's because Anne 
     Burke of Chicago--former Chicago physical education teacher, 
     retired lawyer and judge--not Eunice Shriver Kennedy, is the 
     real founder of the games.
       The law authorizing the coin permits the striking of 
     800,000 silver dollars and each will bear a $10 per coin 
     surcharge going to the Special Olympics. The Citizens 
     Commemorative Coin Advisory Committee rejected the idea of a 
     portrait of a living American but Secretary of the Treasury 
     Robert Rubin approved the design choice. Shriver will become 
     the first living American woman to have her portrait on a 
     coin and only the fifth living American to bear that 
     distinction.
       Chicagoan Burke, who now serves as special counsel on child 
     welfare to Illinois Gov. Jim Edgar, told Coin World that 
     she's pleased the program she started will benefit from the 
     coin. But as far as the claim of founder goes, that resides 
     with Burke.
       In 1965, Burke, then Anne McGlone, was a young physical 
     education teacher who taught mentally retarded youngsters in 
     a special summer program sponsored by the Chicago Park 
     District. By 1967. she said, there were 10 locations 
     throughout the Chicagoland area with 150 children 
     participating in the free program.
       Burke said she knew at the time there were probably more 
     people out there who could benefit from involvement in sports 
     and other activities because there wasn't mandatory education 
     for mentally retarded people. But, she said, she also knew 
     families of mentally retarded children and adults were often 
     very protective of them and shunned involvement in public 
     programs.
       But by the end of the summer of 1967, after Burke and 
     participants put on the play ``The Sound of Music,'' Chicago 
     Park officials were so pleased with the response they 
     sanctioned her idea of a sponsoring a citywide track meet for 
     mentally retarded youngsters the following summer.
       Once she was given the official green light, Burke turned 
     her attention to planning the event that fall and winter. 
     Burke said while refining the idea, a professor she was 
     working with at Southern Illinois University suggested she 
     contact the Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation to request 
     funding for the proposed program.
       Shortly thereafter, Burke wrote to Shriver, she said, who 
     was living in Paris with her husband, Sargent Shriver, then 
     ambassador to France. Burke said Shriver was intrigued with 
     the idea and suggested a meeting in Washington, D.C.
       After meeting with Shriver, Burke said she re-wrote the 
     proposal including Shriver's suggestion to involve children 
     from other states and re-submitted her funding request. The 
     foundation responded with $25,000 for the program. Burke 
     invited Shriver to attend the 1st National Chicago Special 
     Olympics, which were held July 20, 1968. Children from 23 
     different states participated that year and, as Burke notes, 
     ``The rest is history.''
       She said she is still actively involved with the Special 
     Olympics program in the Chicago area. Her concern for 
     children has always seemed to touch her professional life as 
     a 
     [[Page E684]] teacher, mother and a lawyer. But she also 
     acknowledges the contributions Shriver has made to Burke's 
     original idea.
       ``Without the Kennedy Foundation the Games wouldn't be the 
     Games. There is no other family with the charisma or the 
     wherewithal to do this,'' Burke said. ``[Shriver] deserves 
     the recognition. What has happened has been incredible and it 
     [who's portrait appears] really makes no difference now.''
       But Burke admits she is disappointed that Chicago, its park 
     employees and the late Mayor Richard J. Daly, never have been 
     recognized by the Kennedy Foundation nor Shriver for the 
     innovation shown in planning and hosting those first Games.
       ``We took the chances,'' Burke said, describing the view of 
     many at the time that such games might exploit the mentally 
     retarded. ``I think the other side [of the Special Olympics 
     coin] should recognize Chicago, not anyone's name, just 
     Chicago.''
       When asked if she planned to buy any of the commemoratives, 
     Burke said she thought Shriver should give coins to each of 
     the first participants and employees of the Chicago Park 
     District who planned and hosted the first event.


                          the Burke connection

       Dateline: The Chicago line . . . but it was Chicagoan Anne 
     (McGlone) Burke, during her tenure at the Chicago Park 
     District, who gave Shriver the idea for the Special Olympics 
     in a written proposal, and who organized the first Special 
     Olympics event, which was held in Chicago and attended by 
     Mrs. Shriver. Shriver bit, and the rest is history.
       Conclusion: Shriver should be honored for giving the 
     Olympics a happy life, but it was Burke who gave it birth.
                                                                    ____

                                       The Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr.,


                                                   Foundation,

                                    Washington, DC, July 23, 1968.
     Mrs. Ann Burke,
     Chicago Park District, 425 East 14th Boulevard, Chicago, IL.
       Dear Ann: When the history of the Chicago Special Olympics 
     is written, there will have to be a special chapter to 
     recount the contributions of Ann Burke. You should feel very 
     proud that your dedicated work with retarded children in 
     Chicago has culminated in an event of such far reaching 
     importance.
       We all owe you a debt of gratitude, but I know that what 
     means most to you is that the Olympics will continue and that 
     children all over the country will benefit from your idea.
       My warmest personal thanks.
           Sincerely,
                                           Eunice Kennedy Shriver.
                                  ____

                                       The Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr.,


                                                   Foundation,

                                 Washington, DC, January 29, 1968.
     Miss Anne McGlone Bruke,
     Chicago Park District, 425 East 14th Boulevard, Chicago, IL.
       Dear Miss McGlone: Thank you so much for your letter of 
     January 23d informing me about your plans to initiate a 
     National Olympics for retarded children through the Chicago 
     Park District. Both Mr. Shriver and Dr. Hayden have spoken to 
     me about your project and I think it is a most exciting one. 
     I sincerely hope that you are successful in launching it.
       This is certainly a large undertaking and we know that you 
     will need a great deal of assistance of many kinds. When you 
     have been able to formalize your plans and put them into a 
     written proposal the Kennedy Foundation will be very happy to 
     send it out to the members of our physical education and 
     recreation advisory boards for their review and comment. All 
     requests to the Foundation for funds in these areas are 
     handled in this manner and I am sure that the suggestions 
     from these people would be very helpful to you.
       Once again, let me say how delighted I am to know of your 
     plans. I will look forward to hearing from you again as they 
     progress.
           Yours sincerely,
                                           Eunice Kennedy Shriver.
     

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