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With Special Olympics Funding In Peril, Its Founder's Legacy Fights Back

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Adonis Brown of Baltimore, Md. smiles as Mrs. Eunice Kennedy Shriver hangs a gold medal around his neck in Aug. 17, 1972 at the International Special Olympics. (Wally Fong/AP)
Adonis Brown of Baltimore, Md. smiles as Mrs. Eunice Kennedy Shriver hangs a gold medal around his neck in Aug. 17, 1972 at the International Special Olympics. (Wally Fong/AP)

Federal funding for the Special Olympics is in jeopardy.

President Trump's budget proposal includes a 10 percent cut in funding from Department of Education programs, and it would eliminate all of the almost 18 million dollars that go toward funding the Special Olympics.

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is facing sharp criticism from both Republicans and Democrats for supporting the cut.

The Special Olympics have a particular resonance here in Massachusetts.

They were was founded by Eunice Kennedy Shriver. She was, of course, a member of the Kennedy Clan: her brothers were President John F. Kennedy, Attorney General Bobby Kennedy, and long-time Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy.

We discuss the proposed cuts to the Special Olympics with Eileen McNamara, who wrote a biography last year titled "Eunice: The Kennedy Who Changed The World."

Guest

Eileen McNamara, Pulitzer Prize-winning former columnist for The Boston Globe, director of the journalism program at Brandeis University, and author of "Eunice: The Kennedy Who Changed The World."

This article was originally published on March 28, 2019.

This segment aired on March 28, 2019.

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