If not for Eunice Kennedy Shriver,Arnold Schwarzenegger might never have become governor of California.
Shriver, who died Tuesday at age 88, pushed her celebrity son-in-law into public service roles, none greater than his successful bid for governor in 2003.
As Schwarzenegger tells it, he was only going to run in the recall election if his wife – Shriver's daughter, Maria – signed off on the idea. After growing up in a political family, Maria Shriver saw Schwarzenegger as an escape from that life. She broke into tears when he raised the idea of running for governor.
"But the bottom line was her mother, Eunice Kennedy Shriver," Schwarzenegger recalled during a May speech in San Jose.
"And so she told Maria, she said, 'Look, I know from my brothers, when they have something in their gut you can never go and stop them. You can't. You've got to be with it. You've got to be part of the team.' And she talked Maria into it, and so that's how we then went out and we ran."
Schwarzenegger often credits his in-laws, Eunice and R. Sargent Shriver Jr., the 1972 Democratic vice presidential candidate and founding director of the Peace Corps, with his midlife venture into public service.
He got his start in 1979, when Eunice Shriver recruited him to serve as a weightlifting coach for Special Olympics, the international program for developmentally disabled athletes that Shriver founded, said family friend Bonnie Reiss.
Shriver also played a crucial role in Schwarzenegger's first political appointment in 1990 as chairman of the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports under then-President George H.W. Bush.
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4 comments:
Eunice Shriver probably was so supportive of the Guvernator because he would not be playing around with the co-stars, and maybe this will keep the Gropinator out of trouble. Eunice, I am sure did not like seeing her daughter married to that gropping swine.
Chicago Native, Eunice Shriver was the backbone in the Shriver family and the driving force behind Arnold's political career. She molded him into what he is. Arnold's wife was not all that excited when Arnold wanted to run as Guv.
You had to remember that Maria and Arnold had been married since 1984 when he came to this country as bodybuilder. A lot of what Arnold did as bodybuilder was an advantage for Eunice Shriver as she created the Special Olympics. Arnold played a crucial role in politics especially in health and wellness in the '90's.
Now that Eunice Shriver has passed away, Arnold has no other Shriver nor Kennedy to back him in politics. Eunice was it for him. And she was the only person in family that sided with Arnold. The governorship is it for Governator. He only has acting left. Good luck on him going back into an industry that cut the salaries of the actors and actresses because of the economy.
Let's face it a lot of actors are way over paid, living way way over the top life styles, having a few extremely large homes, in very expensive areas. Just look at the cast of friends didn't they make like a million each per episode the last couple of season's?
I certainly don't look for Arnold to do an Elvis tune like Blago did when Blago wouldn't never make it on American Idol. But, Arnold is finito. The Californian for every political party hate Arnold.
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