ARCENT SHRIVER: A Candid Portrait

by Robert A. ston ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 13, 1964

The portrait may be candid, but it is also complimentary, as it reveals the attractive features of the well known Kennedy in-law who has set his own pace to keep abreast of that of his wife's family. Robert Liston looks to January 6, 1964 as the day Shriver became a political comer, when Lyndon B. Johnson designated him as a ""real confidant"" and bestowed further presidential words of favor. He portrays ""Sarge"" as a fighter whose forte, even as a child and youth, and now as a high man on the totem pole, was and is action. He describes the family background- originally the Schreibers came from the Palatine in the 1720's, the years at Canterbury, Yale and in the Navy and in New York on Wall Street and at Newsweek that preceded the fateful meeting with unice Kennedy. This led first to his stewardship of Joseph P. Kennedy's Merchandise art in Chicago, then to marriage to Eunice in 1953 at thirty-seven. Then came civic ervice on the Chicago Board of Education, with the Catholic Interracial Council, the 1960 campaign in which Shriver's suggestion to JFK to call Mrs. King had, purportedly, compelling vote results. Liston reviews Shriver's performance as the director of the eace Corps -- he holds the reins with the determination to be the decisive force, he gets things done despite red tape, he has charisma. His handling of the funeral arrangement for the late President is seen in context with both his leadership and elation to the Kennedys. The elements of his appeal as a vice presidential candidate are sound enough to provide an apologia for what is essentially a campaign biography that gets across the qualities of its subject in a manner to earn its title.

Pub Date: July 13, 1964

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: rrar, Straus & Co.

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1964

Categories: NONFICTION