Speakers are:

Scott Stossel (Senior Editor, Atlantic Monthly, and author of Sarge: The Life and Times of Sargent Shriver)

Bobby Shriver (Santa Monica City Councilman and Chairman of the California State Parks and Recreation system)

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Scott Stossel and Bobby Shriver discuss the political idealism and civic engagement of the 1960s as exemplified by the inspiring and influential career of Sargent Shriver. During the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, Shriver created and launched the Peace Corps, spearheaded the War on Poverty, and founded Head Start, Job Corps, VISTA, as well as Legal Services for the Poor. Together with his wife, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, he also established the Special Olympics. As former President Bill Clinton has said, "In my lifetime, America has never had a warrior for peace and against poverty like Sargent Shriver." Courtesy of Borders, copies of Sarge: The Life and Times of Sargent Shriver will be available for purchase and signing at this event.

Book Reviews:

Scott Stossel's new book Sarge: The Life & Times of Sargent Shriver, was published last spring to great critical acclaim. Publisher's Weekly called the book a "superbly researched, immensely readable political biography." The New York Sun called it a "beautifully written and magnificently organized work" and reported that "as a study of an important figure in American politics from the 1950s to the 1970s, Mr. Stossel's biography is engrossing reading." The Baltimore Sun called it a "very interesting and incredibly detailed account of Shriver's remarkable records," and Harvard University historian Ernest May declared "I couldn't put it down." The book was also featured in the New York Times, and on CBS and NPR, among many other places.

Profile of Scott Stossel:

Stossel is a senior editor at the Atlantic Monthly magazine, in Boston. His articles and essays on a wide variety of topics have appeared in the Atlantic, the New Yorker, the New Republic, the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, and other publications. Prior to returning to the Atlantic in 2002 - where he also worked from 1992 to 1996 - Stossel was executive editor of The American Prospect magazine. Stossel's articles and essays have appeared regularly in such publications as The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The American Prospect, The New Republic, The Boston Globe, the Washington Post, and many other publications. His articles have been anthologized in many books, and translated into multiple languages. His commentaries have been broadcast on CNN, C-SPAN, NPR, and the BBC.

Profile of Bobby Shriver:

After graduating cum laude from Yale College, Robert Sargent Shriver III began a career as a journalist, working for the Annapolis Evening Capitol in Maryland. From there, he followed a traditional journalist's odyssey, from a news service in Chicago (The City News Bureau) to The Chicago Daily News, and to the Los Angeles Herald Examiner. He left the newspaper business to attend Yale Law School. Upon graduation in 1981, he clerked for the Honorable Stephen R. Reinhardt at the Federal Court of Appeals for the Ninth Judicial Circuit.

In 1982 he moved to New York to work in the venture capital business where, with former United States Defense Secretary, Harold Brown, and James D. Wolfensohn, he participated in the founding of the venture capital division of the Wolfensohn Firm.

Shriver made his television- producing debut in 1987 when he produced the first ever primetime program on the 1987 Special Olympics World Games for ABC. During the same year, he produced the first "A Very Special Christmas" record. The success of these two projects led him to form Special Olympic Productions as an on-going entity responsible for raising money through entertainment related projects.

Since 1988, he has produced a two-hour BBC 1 program on the European games in Glasgow, a one-hour Christmas show for ABC, the 1991 two-hour show (also ABC) of the Minneapolis World Games, and, in 1992 a second album, "A Very Special Christmas 2." In 1994 he produced "Jazz to the World," a collection of jazz Christmas songs. In 1995 he produced "World Christmas" for Capitol Records, in 1997 "A Very Special Christmas 3" for A&M Records, in 1999 "A Very Special Christmas Live" and in 2001 "A Very Special Christmas 5." In 2004, Shriver executive produced "A Very Special Acoustic Christmas" for Lost Highway Records. These projects have raised more than $60 million in support of Special Olympic organizations throughout the world.

Shriver' feature film credits include the 1994 box-office hit "True Lies," which he executive produced from a story he found and developed. He produced the 1998 HBO film, "Black Cat Run." from Frank Darabont's script. In 1999, Shriver executive produced the NBC primetime movie, "Mary, Mother of Jesus.

Shriver is a Director of The Crossroads at Antigua Foundation, Chairman of the California State Parks and Recreation system, Chairman of DATA Foundation Inc. and a Santa Monica City Councilman.

Sponsor:

Presented by the Walter H. Capps Center for the Study of Ethics, Religion, and Public Life at UCSB.