Overview:
A long-unpublished memoir by Sargent Shriver, titled "We Called It a War: Lessons Learned from the Fight to End Poverty," has been released nearly six decades after it was written. The book was discovered by Katherine Erwin of Athol, who found a copy of it in a box of her late father's belongings. Her father, Herbert J. Kramer, worked alongside Shriver during President Lyndon B. Johnson's "War on Poverty" efforts. The memoir documents one of the nation's most significant efforts to address poverty and offers insight into how Shriver built support for those programs.
ATHOL – What began for Athol resident Katherine Erwin as a mystery box of old belongings led to the rediscovery of a long-unpublished memoir connected to the “War on Poverty” efforts of the 1960s.
The memoir, “We Called It a War: Lessons Learned from the Fight to End Poverty,” by Sargent Shriver, was released earlier this year, nearly six decades after it was first drafted. The book has since been featured by national media outlets, including People Magazine and The Washington Post. Erwin said a copy of the book is available at the Athol Public Library.
For Erwin, the publication serves as a connection to her late father, Herbert J. Kramer, who worked alongside Shriver during the administration of President Lyndon B. Johnson. Kramer was brought to Washington in 1965 to serve as director of public affairs for the newly-formed Office of Economic Opportunity, which served as a centerpiece of Johnson’s “War on Poverty” policy.
Kramer later worked with both Sargent and Eunice Kennedy Shriver in public relations, speech writing and campaign-related roles.
In 2017, Erwin learned that Annie Michaels, a former colleague of her father, had arranged for two boxes of Kramer’s materials to be given to her after her death. Erwin asked her brother Jonathan to retrieve the boxes in Washington, D.C., and pass them along to his son-in-law Jamie Price, founding director of the Sargent Shriver Peace Institute. Initially, she said she hoped to locate an old record album mentioned in a Shriver biography.
“I had read in a Shriver biography that my father wrote a funny skit for election night in 1972, poking fun at the campaign, and I really wanted to hear it,” she said.
After the vinyl was digitized, Erwin said that hearing her father’s voice again was “just priceless.”
But the search soon uncovered something even more significant. According to Erwin, staff at the institute found a manuscript typed by her father that included handwritten notes from Shriver in the margins.
“That was the moment I realized we had found a preserved piece of history that went far beyond just family memories,” Erwin said.
Lucy Di Rosa, executive director of the Sargent Shriver Peace Institute, said archival materials helped establish Kramer’s role in the project.
“From all the evidence we have, it appears that Mr. Kramer recorded the interviews with Sargent Shriver about his time working on the War on Poverty, transcribed them (or had them transcribed), and then helped him shape them into a manuscript,” Di Rosa said.
She said that conclusion was supported by transcripts in the institute’s archives that closely matched material later included in the memoir. When the manuscript was rediscovered, Erwin and her family helped confirm details about the project, according to Di Rosa.
“They have been unwavering supporters of our work and champions of Herb Kramer’s legacy as it relates to this important period of U.S. history,” she said.
Di Rosa said the memoir remains relevant because it documents one of the nation’s most significant efforts to address poverty and offers insight into how Shriver built support for those programs.
“In revealing how he handled the political process, which was at times overwhelming, we see that it is possible to overcome polarization, and it is possible to come up with new ideas and to implement them on a large scale,” she said.
Erwin said her family had known the memoir existed. Her youngest brother, Paul, traveled to Paris with their father in 1969 while work on the project was underway during Shriver’s time as ambassador to France.
“When I finally heard that the manuscript had been found after all those decades, the main thing I felt was relief,” she said. “My dad had put so much of his life and work into those pages.”
Although Kramer’s career centered on political and social initiatives, Erwin said he also brought humor and creativity to his work.
“When Sarge retired from the Office of Economic Opportunity, my dad created an entertainment night called ‘Sargent Shriver’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,’” she said.
Erwin said the relationship between the Kramer and Shriver families extended beyond politics.
“We actually called him ‘Uncle Sarge’ when we were kids,” she said. “The families were close.”
Erwin also recalled stories her father shared about witnessing poverty firsthand through his work connected to anti-poverty programs.
“I remember a story he told at dinner about visiting a neighborhood for a potential Head Start site,” Erwin said. “He was heartbroken because when they showed the children pictures of animals, the only one the kids could identify was a rat.”
For Erwin, seeing the memoir finally published carried emotional significance.
“My father always wanted to write a book,” she said. “So, to finally see it in print, even without his name on the cover, felt like a long-held family dream coming true.”
The timing of the release added another layer of meaning. The book was released on April 9, 2026, marking the 34th anniversary of Kramer’s death.
“Having his work reach the public on that exact day….I don’t believe in coincidences,” Erwin said. “It felt like a sign that this was meant to be and that his work was finally coming home.”
Erwin said the experience has also become “a beautiful new piece of the puzzle” for her family.
“Things like this keep popping up,” she said, referencing the recent discovery of an old graduation speech recording by her father. “He’s still speaking to us.”
Today, Erwin lives in Athol and runs The Gathering Place, a knitting and social club in Orange. Her daughter, Kirsten Spencer, operates a photography studio in the same building.
She said local friends had long been familiar with stories and photographs tied to her father’s career, including his involvement with public service campaigns connected to the films “Star Wars” and “Superman II.”
Now that the memoir has reached the public, Erwin said she hopes readers reflect on the importance of continuing efforts to support people in need.
“My takeaway is that we need to keep supporting programs that lift people up,” she said. “It’s not about making everyone equal, but about creating a bare minimum, a floor, so that no one in this country has to fall through the cracks.”