Eunice Kennedy Shriver, Founder of the Special Olympics

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Eunice Kennedy Shriver, sister of President John F. Kennedy, was a leader in the field of intellectual disability and founder of the Special Olympics. Born at the Kennedy family home on Abbotsford Road in Brookline, MA on July 20, 1921, she was the fifth child and third daughter of Rose and Joseph Kennedy’s nine children. 

She began her career as a social worker for women prisoners and juvenile offenders, and in 1957 headed up the Joseph P. Kennedy Foundation, dedicated to improving the way society deals with mental retardation.

Her sister Rosemary had an intellectual disability, and that experience shaped Eunice's conviction that if people with intellectual disabilities had the same opportunities and experiences as everyone else, they could accomplish far more than anyone ever thought possible.  Eunice put that vision into action in 1962 by inviting young people with intellectual disabilities to a summer day camp she hosted in her backyard. 

She called it Camp Shriver, and it became an annual event, leading to the formation of the Special Olympics movement that took shape in the 1960s.  The Special Olympics was officially launched on July 20,1968 at the first International Special Olympics Summer Games, held at Soldier Field in Chicago, and  has since spread across  the United States and to 200 countries around the world. 

In 1984, President Ronald Reagan presented Eunice with the Medal of Honor for her life's work. 

Read full biography of Eunice Kennedy Shriver and watch the video, Eunice Kennedy Shriver 100: A Legacy of Inclusion, produced on the 100th anniversary of Eunice's birth by the National Park Service and Brookline Interactive Group.

Read more about the Special Olympics. which continues to "transform the lives of millions of individuals with intellectual disabilities both on and off the playing field."

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