Eunice Kennedy Shriver - The Human Spirit Initiative

Dut es and Honors
“There was always a special light in the eyes of Eunice Shriver when she saw a child who was
physically, emotionally or psychologically challenged.”
His Eminence Theodore Cardinal McCarrick, Former Archbishop of Washington
Under Eunice Kennedy Shriver’s
leadership, the Kennedy Foundation
was influential in establishing the
President’s Panel on Mental Retardation,
the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National
Institute for Child Health and Human
Development, and a network of
university-affiliated facilities and
intellectual disability research centers
at major research universities across
the United States. The Foundation
also sponsored the creation of major
centers for the study of medical ethics at
Georgetown University and Harvard.
Because there is a higher incidence
of teen pregnancy among teens with
intellectual disability, the Community of
Caring was created, and sixteen model
centers were established in 1982. From
1990 to 2004, Community of Caring
programs in more than 1200 schools
focused on character education and the
development of five core values – caring,
respect, responsibility, trust and family. In
2005, EKS and the Kennedy Foundation
moved Community of Caring to the
University of Utah where research into
the inclusion of students with intellectual
disabilities in America’s schools could
be expanded. The university established
the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National
Center for Community of Caring and
is providing many new programs and
training in schools throughout the U.S.
and Canada.
In 1984, President Ronald Reagan
presented Eunice Kennedy Shriver
with America’s highest civilian honor,
the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
He paid tribute to Eunice by praising
her “decency and goodness.” He stated
that “Eunice Kennedy Shriver deserves
America’s praise, gratitude and love.”
Eight years later, President Clinton
awarded Sargent Shriver the Presidential
Medal of Freedom. The Shrivers became
the only husband and wife in history to
have individually received this highest
civilian award.
U.S. President Ronald Reagan presenting
Eunice Kennedy Shriver the Presidential Medal
of Freedom in 1984 – the nation’s highest
civilian honor. Her husband, Sargent Shriver,
received the same honor in 1994 from President
Bill Clinton, making Eunice and Sargent the
only husband and wife to receive individual
Presidential Medals of Freedom.
Eunice Kennedy Shriver and Special Olympics