[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 8 (Thursday, January 20, 2011)]
[House]
[Pages H377-H378]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        HONORING SARGENT SHRIVER

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor a great American, my friend 
Sargent Shriver, a son of Maryland, who passed away this week at the 
age of 95. He was a public servant who lived a full life dedicated to 
promoting justice and

[[Page H378]]

opportunity in America and, indeed, throughout the world.
  As the first director of the Peace Corps, Mr. Shriver skillfully 
launched an organization that has strengthened respect for America 
across the world and has for half a century exposed generations of 
Americans to the world beyond their borders. Sargent Shriver also made 
his mark as the director of important anti-poverty programs and as the 
leader of the Special Olympics movement, a movement that he joined his 
extraordinary bride, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, in heading.
  In the words of his biographer, Scott Stossel: ``Often the things 
that Sargent Shriver accomplished, starting the Peace Corps in just a 
few months, or getting 500,000 kids into Head Start programs its first 
summer when the experts said that 10,000 kids was the maximum feasible, 
were things that everyone beforehand had said were not realistic, or 
were downright impossible, Sarge Shriver did.''
  Sarge Shriver had a gift for what one of the old War on Poverty 
colleagues called ``expanding the horizons of the possible.'' I am 
reminded of Robert Kennedy's quote that he used so often that ``some 
men see things as they are and say, `Why?' '' Robert Kennedy said: ``I 
dream things that never were and ask, `Why not?' '' Sarge Shriver 
mirrored that quote. May we all learn from his example. May we honor 
his legacy of public service by expanding our own horizons of the 
possible, by caring for those who need our help here and around the 
world.
  Sargent Shriver brought to American life a singular commitment to 
service. His good work and his historic example will long outlive his 
95 years.

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