eBook

The making of a Catholic president : Kennedy vs. Nixon 1960

Casey, Shaun A.

2009

Overview

The 1960 presidential election, won ultimately by John F. Kennedy, was one of the closest and most contentious in American history. The country had never elected a Roman Catholic president, and the last time a Catholic had been nominated—New York Governor Al Smith in 1928—he was routed in the general election. From the outset, Kennedy saw the religion issue as the single most important obstacle on his road to the White House. He was acutely aware of, and deeply frustrated by, the possibility that his personal religious beliefs could keep him out of the White House. This book tells the fascinating story of how the Kennedy campaign transformed the “religion question” from a liability into an asset, making him the first (and still only) Catholic president. Drawing on archival research, including many never-before-seen documents, the book travels inside the campaign to show Kennedy's chief advisors—Ted Sorensen, John Kenneth Galbraith, Archibald Cox—grappling with the staunch opposition to the candidate's Catholicism. The book also reveals many of the Nixon campaign's efforts to tap in to anti-Catholic sentiment, with the aid of Billy Graham and the National Association of Evangelicals, among others. The alliance between conservative Protestants and the Nixon campaign, it shows, laid the groundwork for the rise of the Religious Right.

• Publisher: Oxford University Press,Oxford University Press, Incorporated
• Subject: 1913-1994 / 1917-1963 / 1960 / 1961-1963 / 20th century / Anti-Catholicism / Anti-Catholicism -- United States -- History -- 20th century / Catholics / Catholics -- United States -- Political activity -- History -- 20th century / Election / History / John Fitzgerald / Kennedy, John F / Kennedy, John F. (John Fitzgerald), 1917-1963 / Kennedy, John F. (John Fitzgerald), 1917-1963 -- Religion / Nixon, Richard M / Nixon, Richard M. (Richard Milhous), 1913-1994 / Political activity / Politics and government / Presidents / Presidents -- United States -- Election -- 1960 / Religion / Religion and Politics / Religion and politics -- United States -- History -- 20th century / Richard Milhous / Roman Catholicism, Roman Catholic Church / Sociology and Anthropology of Religion / United States / United States -- Politics and government -- 1961-1963 / United States History
• ISBN: 0195374487, 9780195374483