Letter, Sargent Shriver to the New York Times, 19 October 1966

The federal Office of Economic Opportunity twice funded the Child Development Group of Mississippi, a poverty program which grew out of Freedom Movement activity. By the end of CDGM’s second grant from the OEO, Sargent Shriver (director of the OEO and brother-in-law to President John Kennedy), under pressure from Mississippi Senator John Stennis, informed CDGM in early October 1966 that the OEO would not reallocate funds for that branch of Head Start. Critics charged that CDGM involved its members in communist ideology, was involved in corrupt financial exchanges, and even practiced racial segregation. The Citizens’ Crusade Against Poverty (CCAP), formed to protest this decision, ran a full-page advertisement in the New York Times on October 19, 1966 called “Say it Isn’t So Sargent Shriver.” Here are Sargent Shriver’s responses. The first is Shriver’s letter to the New York Times editor, as he began a public relations campaign to rebuild his reputation. The second is Shriver’s response to CCAP. In the end, Vice President Humphrey lent his support to CDGM and CCAP, and CDGM continued to run fourteen centers in the following year.

Item information:

Created 1966-10-19 in Office of Economic Opportunity, Executive Office of the President, Washington, DC 20506
4 , 8.5x11


Executive Office of the President, OEO
Washington, DC
20506, United States of America

Sent to
The Editor, The New York Times
Unknown
New York, New York
10036, United States of America



Archive information:
Tougaloo College Archives - T-89.08
Box 3, folder Folder 25

Record 66

Brown University Tougaloo College STG