[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 8 (Thursday, January 20, 2011)]
[House]
[Page H379]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     THE PASSING OF SARGENT SHRIVER

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Van Hollen) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. Speaker, America lost one of her greatest public 
servants this week. Sargent Shriver dedicated his life to others. He 
was the driving force behind the creation of Head Start and Upward 
Bound, opening the door to education for countless children. He was 
passionate about service, and through his stewardship of the Peace 
Corps and VISTA, gave millions of others the opportunity to serve. 
Sarge and his wife, Eunice, were visionary advocates for people with 
disabilities, and today the Special Olympics empowers young people with 
intellectual disabilities around the world.
  Sargent Shriver's courage under fire earned him a Purple Heart for 
his service in the Navy during World War II. After directing the Peace 
Corps and the Kennedy administration and helping launch the War on 
Poverty in the Johnson administration, Sargent Shriver applied his 
formidable talents to our Foreign Service as ambassador to France from 
1968 to 1970. In 1994, President Clinton awarded Sargent Shriver the 
Presidential Medal of Freedom, our Nation's highest civilian honor.
  Despite all these accolades and well-deserved recognition, those who 
knew Sargent Shriver knew that he considered his work its own reward. 
His life was a tireless crusade for peace and justice, willing to lend 
a hand wherever one was needed and building institutions that could 
carry his work into the future.
  ``When our deeds match our ideals,'' Sargent Shriver would say, ``we 
will be living life as it ought to be lived.'' Sargent Shriver lived 
life as it ought to be lived.
  I extend my deepest sympathies to his five children, Mark, Robert, 
Maria, Timothy and Anthony, and to their families. I hope they are 
comforted by the thoughts and prayers of all those who knew, admired, 
or were helped by Sargent Shriver. His legacy--the children given a 
head start, the volunteers whose lives were changed and who changed 
lives in their service around the globe, and the individuals with 
disabilities now treated with dignity and respect that they deserve--
that legacy is with us today and will continue for years and decades 
and more to come.

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