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At the time, Shriver was working as an assistant editor at Newsweek 1967 and the creation of major centers for the study of medical ethics
after his discharge from the Navy. Shortly after he met Eunice, her at Harvard and Georgetown in 1971. But it was what she started in the
father, Joe Kennedy, asked Shriver to look at diary entries written by his backyard of her home in the early years of her marriage that had the
eldest son, Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., who had died in a plane crash while most profound impact on the life of the disabled community.
he was on a military mission during World War II. This request
brought Shriver into the Kennedy fold. Later, Kennedy tapped Shriver The Special Olympics
to manage the Merchandise Mart, part of Kennedy’s business empire, In 1961, Eunice started a summer camp for children with intellectual
in Chicago, Illinois, bringing the couple together again in Chicago. disabilities on the lawn of her Maryland estate, providing them the
After a seven-year courtship, Shriver married Eunice Kennedy on space, opportunity, and encouragement to find and nurture their greatest
May 23, 1953, at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City. Together, abilities. Her take-away from her childhood was that everyone
they went on to have five children, most notably Maria Shriver, former participates to the best of their ability, regardless of their disability, and
First Lady of California and media journalist. Eunice happily fulfilled that athletic activities are a shared experience.
her role as a dutiful wife and mother but she, like many of her siblings, This was an extraordinary idea at the time. The prevailing thought
was destined for so much more in service to her country. had been that mentally retarded children should be excluded from
physical activity for fear that they might injure themselves. As a result,
Starting Her Life of Service many were overweight or obese.
In 1957, Eunice took over the direction of the Joseph P. Kennedy,
Jr. Foundation, established in 1946 as a memorial to her oldest brother,
Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., who was killed in World War II. It was under
Eunice’s stewardship that the organization shifted its focus from
Catholic charities to the prevention of mental retardation and improving
the ways in which society deals with people with intellectual disabilities.
She had found her calling as an advocate for children’s health and
disability issues at a time when, according to Edward Shorter, author of
The Kennedy Family and the Story of Mental Retardation, [In the 1950s]
“the mentally retarded were among the most scorned, isolated and
neglected groups in American society. Mental retardation was viewed as
a hopeless, shameful disease, and those afflicted with it were shunted
from sight as soon as possible.”

When Anne Burke from the Chicago Parks District proposed a city track meet
for people with intellectual disabilities, Shriver urged her to expand the idea
to include more sports and athletes from other states. On July 20, 1968,
Shriver announced the formation of a new organization:
Special Olympics, and opened the First Special Olympics Games.

From Camp Shriver came the concept of Special Olympics, an
organization dedicated to empowering people with intellectual
disabilities to realize their full potential and develop their skills through
year-round training in sports and competition.
In 1968, working with the Chicago Park District, the Joseph P.
Kennedy Jr. Foundation planned and underwrote the First
International Special Olympics Summer Games, held in Chicago’s
Soldier Field, where 1,000 athletes with intellectual disabilities from 26
states and Canada competed in athletics.

“Today’s Chicago Special Olympics Games have not been
organized as a spectacle. They are not being conducted just for fun.
The Chicago Special Olympics prove a very fundamental fact. Those
President John F. Kennedy hands a pen to his sister,
Eunice Kennedy Shriver (consultant to the President’s Panel on exceptional children … can be exceptional athletes, the fact that
Mental Retardation), after signing the Maternal and Child Health through sports they can realize their potential for growth. … But
and Mental Retardation Planning Amendments of 1963, an amendment
to the Social Security Act. they are only 1,000 out of one-and-one -half million [children with
photo: Boston Globe
intellectual disabilities] who should be competing in games like this
Eunice knew this only too well from first-hand experience, and in
1962 made the bold decision that the family should publicly all over America. But most of these million-and-one-half children
acknowledge Rosemary’s condition for the first time, leading Eunice to live in communities where there are no games, no exercise, no
write an essay in the Saturday Evening Post. In part Eunice wrote, “Like competition for [those with intellectual disabilities].”
diabetes, deafness, polio, or any other misfortune, [intellectual
disabilities] can happen in any family. It has happened in the families - Eunice Kennedy Shriver
of the poor and rich, of governors, senators, Nobel prizewinners, Opening Remarks of the 1968 Chicago Special Olympics,
doctors, lawyers, writers, men of genius, presidents of corporations – Chicago, Illinois, July 20, 1968
the President of the United States.”
During the Kennedy Administration, the Foundation was
instrumental in the formation of President Kennedy’s Panel on Mental In December of that year, Special Olympics, Inc. was established as
Retardation in 1961, development of the National Institute of Child a non-profit charitable organization. The Arc of the United States, the
Health and Human Development (which is now named for Mrs. Council for Exceptional Children, and the American Association on
Shriver) in 1962, the establishment of a network of mental retardation Mental Deficiency pledged their support for this first systematic effort
research centers at major medical schools across the United States in to provide training and competition in sports for individuals with

22 Journal of Antiques and Collectibles