Sargent Shriver for President 1976 Campaign Brochures

‘...a Leader for America’

Why Shriver?

Because he can get the job done.

He ran a multi-million-dollar business, made hard decisions throughout his varied and vigorous career, and, in government and business, negotiated successfully with leaders of more than 50 countries. He has always demonstrated concern for people and proven his ability to help them. As President of the Chicago Board of Education, governing the second largest school district in America, director of the Peace Corps, Head Start, Community Action, Foster Grandparents, Health Services, Legal Services, Indian Opportunities, VISTA and the Job Corps. Under Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, Sargent Shriver designed these Programs and made them work.

For the people.

Not much is being done for the people these days.

Millions are jobless and some have lost hope of ever returning to work. The weekly grocery tab climbs ever higher, frightening even those with upper middle incomes. Many Americans spent years scrimping to put money wide for their children's education, and now they find it's not enough. Homeowners are paying utility and tax bills which are bigger than their monthly mortgage. More and more families cannot afford their own homes.

Amid all this, families are breaking up or becoming otherwise disorganized. Television is serving as a babysitter and parental love and attention are too often missing in many homes.

Americans are said to be losing faith, not only in their political and business leaders but also in themselves.

Yet it was just such faith that this country was founded upon 200 years ago, and with which it has endured similarly trying times in the past.

Sargent Shriver believes that faith is still alive in our land. His service has taken him into every section of the United States and most of the world as well. He has worked with the disadvantaged, helping them break out of poverty; he has worked with merchants, farmers, lawyers, labor, industrial and community leaden in programs to provide justice and opportunity for all. He served his country overseas, in war and peace, and helped build an American reputation of strength and compassion.

His work has given Shriver a deep understanding of the problems both here and abroad, a keen awareness of how they relate to one another. He knows them we no easy answers to the plight of the average American and the family in the complex world of today. Yet, as anyone who knows Shriver will tell you, the man is no prophet of doom. He is a man of confidence, spirit and humor. A man of whom newspaper columnist George F. Will could recently write, "the last down dispiriting years didn't happen to him, physiologically or philosophically," and yet go on to now: "Shriver's most interesting facet is his religious seriousness. It sets him apart in the political profession, most members of which seem to have no inner life beyond an almost heathen enthusiasm for getting on."

It is Shriver's inner strength, together with his positive outlook on America's potential, that brought him into this presidential race despite the troubled times. Upon announcing his candidacy, he began presenting strong and imaginative programs to end the upward spiral of grocery prices, put people back to work instead of on welfare, restore competition in energy, food and other marketplaces, provide adequate health care, rebuild and strengthen the family structure and traditional moral values of American society.

But this candidate is listening as well as talking, challenging as well as promising. Because Sargent Shriver's faith is based on something more than America's comparative abundance. He knows the greatest natural resource of all is the American people themselves.

They are part of his campaign and, if he is elected, will be pact of the new administration. For Shriver is determined to remove the "Palace Guard" from the White House and, once again, make the people the masters of their own fate and their own government.

This is what the Shriver campaign is about. Of course, no political brochure, handout or speech will prove it's for real. Americans know, now more than ever, to look beneath the image-making, beyond the rhetoric, and to seek out the character and record of those who would lead them.

In the tradition of this Nation's greatest leaders, Shriver's personality and past performance point the way to positive action on behalf of the people as America enters her third century.

A life of concerned, competent leadership

Raised on farm in Westminster, Maryland, where born November 9, 1915. Worked way through college, graduating from Yale University, cum laude, in 1938 and Yale Law School, 1941. Served five years in Navy aboard submarines and battleships in World War II, ending service as Lieutenant Commander. Managed Joseph P. Kennedy's Chicago Merchandise Mart for 12 years and, with Kennedy's daughter, Eunice, conducted 1947-48 National Conference on Prevention and Control of Juvenile Delinquency. Married Eunice Kennedy, May 23, 1953. Together, they've spearheaded Kennedy Foundation programs in mental retardation and medical ethics.

Headed Chicago Board of Education, 1955-60, strengthening curriculum and equalizing educational opportunities. Served as President of Catholic Interracial Council and Vice President of Chicago Council on Foreign Relations. Helped organize Adlai Stevenson's successful bid for 1952 Democratic presidential nomination. Directed civil rights, farm and business sections of John F. Kennedy's presidential campaign in 1960 and recruited cabinet members and other top executives of Kennedy administration.

Created and directed Peace Corps, 1961-65, mobilizing thousands of trained volunteers and sending them overseas to help people improve living conditions. Personally visited and worked in more than 50 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America, and conducted successful negotiations with leaders of those lands.

Directed new Office of Economic Opportunity, 1964-68, creating and organizing Head Start, Community Action, Foster Grandparents, Health Services, Legal Services, Indian Opportunities, VISTA, Job Corps and other programs to help Americans to better life.

Served as Ambassador to France, 1968-70, gaining recognition as on of U.S.'s most skillful and effective diplomats. Upon return, headed Congressional Leadership for the Future, supporting 89 Democratic candidates for House and Senate. Resumed law practice, specializing in international law and dealing successfully with leaders of France, Germany, England, Soviet Union and other countries.

Recipient of 24 honorary degrees and numerous awards for humanitarianism, including Veteran of the Year, 1956; National Father of the Year, 1964; Lay Churchman of the Year, 1963; Notre Dame Patriotism Award, 1965; AFL-CIO Philip Murray-William Green Award, 1966; National Brotherhood Award, 1966; Hannah G. Solomon Award, 1972.

‘Sargent Shriver will put government on your side’

Jobs

Sargent Shriver will put America back to work. He condemns as immoral and unworkable the Nixon-Ford policy of high unemployment to slow inflation. He knows there is plenty of work to be done, and that full-employment is the best way to eliminate the record deficits and welfare waste piled up by Nixon and Ford. He will extend the present tax cut; provide incentives for full capacity production in private industry and provide wider public service opportunities in such vital areas as education, health and mass transportation; reduce interest rates and enlarge the money supply. Coupled with the Shriver safeguards against inflation, these steps will provide more jobs and a more competitive market place.

Fuel

Sargent Shriver will keep fuel prices down, even if it means requiring the oil giants to prove they shouldn't be broken up or restructured so they no longer control fuel distribution and prices from the oil rig to the gas pump. He also advocates: aggressive energy conservation including tax policies that encourage industry and citizens to reduce consumption; continued fuel price controls; buildup of domestic oil reserves, development of alternative supplies abroad, U. S. Government intervention to strengthen our hand in dealing with foreign oil producers; utility price reform that requires large energy users to pay their share; public development of solar and other energy sources with the some commitment this nation devoted to putting a man on the moon.

Food

Sargent Shriver will unite the common concerns of the American consumer and farmer in a concentrated effort to end the spiral of food prices -- up a whopping 62 percent under Nixon and Ford. He's proposing: balanced national and international food production and marketing systems to assure farmers a fair return while keeping food prices down for the consumer; realistic price supports encouraging farmers to produce to full capacity; antitrust legislation requiring real competition among middlemen and assuring farmers their share of the food dollar. He is equally determined to fight inflation in other areas -- by aggressive "jaw-boning" with industry and labor and applying stand-by controls if necessary.