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Robert Sargent Shriver 1915–, U.S. public official, b. Westminster, Md. A lawyer, he served in World War II and was (1945–46) an assistant editor of Newsweek magazine before joining the business enterprises of his future father-in-law, Joseph P. Kennedy. He participated in John F. Kennedy's successful presidential campaign, and in 1961 he was appointed the first director of the U.S. Peace Corps. An effective head of this organization, he was named (1964) director of the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) by President Lyndon B. Johnson and held both posts until 1966, when he resigned from the Peace Corps to devote himself to OEO. In 1968 he was appointed ambassador to France; he held that post until 1970. A Democrat, he became George McGovern's vice-presidential running mate in 1972, after Thomas Eagleton withdrew from the Democratic ticket. McGovern and Shriver were defeated.
See his Point of the Lance (1964); biography by R. A. Liston (1964).
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