When Sargent Shriver Ran for Vice-President

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Democratic candidate for Vice President, R. Sargent Shriver gestures to a crowd at Temple University in Philadelphia in 1972.

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After the election, Shriver became a partner in the law firm of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Kampelman. A charmer in a Cardin suit and Gucci loafers (he has made the top-ten best-dressed lists), he surprised some of his associates by putting in long hours and energetically taking on such vital but generally shunned jobs as recruiting top law students for the firm. "At first," says one partner, "I thought he was a lot of smooth oil. Now I'm very high on him."

One of his problems will be making the most of the Kennedy image while still remaining his own independent man. The shadow is not easy to shake. A few years ago, in an effort to inspire one of his five children to work harder at his studies, Shriver explained that "when Abraham Lincoln was your age, he walked twelve miles back and forth to school every day." "That's nothing," the boy replied. "When Uncle Jack was your age, he was President of the United States."