John F. Kennedys Catholic faith in 1960 was a non-issue

[ginscpy]

More political than religeous.

Catholic /Epicispalian is one and the same - and not much difference from the other Protestant branches.

Although it was a big deal for a while in Northern Ireland (The Troubles) what the frick were they fighting over ? Seems to have calmed down

 

[Sunshine]

More political than religeous.

Catholic /Epicispalian is one and the same - and not much difference from the other Protestant branches.

Although it was a big deal for a while in Northern Ireland (The Troubles) what the frick were they fighting over ? Seems to have calmed down

How does this relate to the title of the threas?

I remember the 1960 election well. JFK's religion was a huge issue.

 

[Madeline]

Sure was. People argued he'd be taking orders from the Pope on how to run the country.

 

[ginscpy]

Wasn't a huge issue at all.

He won the freaking election.....................

 

[Sunshine]

Wasn't a huge issue at all.

He won the freaking election.....................

Just because he won doesn't mean it wasn't a big issue. I remember getting flyers that said 'Do you want a Catholic in the White House?'

Big issues can be overcome.

 

[ginscpy]

JFK was a Christian.

Roman Catholic was the original Christian faith -protestents off-shoots

 

[Sunshine]

JFK was a Christian.

Roman Catholic was the original Christian faith -protestents off-shoots

Not according to some non Catholics. But that isn't the topic of the thread now is it?

 

[ginscpy]

The 1960 election was a squeker.

Nixon was a good sport.

 

[Gadawg73]

More political than religeous.

Catholic /Epicispalian is one and the same - and not much difference from the other Protestant branches.

Although it was a big deal for a while in Northern Ireland (The Troubles) what the frick were they fighting over ? Seems to have calmed down

Catholic and Episcopalian are not one and the same.
My wife was Catholic and I was Episcopalian.
But I totally agree they are not much different than the other Protestant branches.

 

[ginscpy]

JFK was actually more conservative than liberal.......................

 

[Madeline]

Nixon was an asshole, ginscpy. What did you think Watergate was about?

 

[Middleman]

This thread doesn't seem to have a point.

 

[Bfgrn]

More political than religeous.

Catholic /Epicispalian is one and the same - and not much difference from the other Protestant branches.

Although it was a big deal for a while in Northern Ireland (The Troubles) what the frick were they fighting over ? Seems to have calmed down

Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.
Daniel Patrick Moynihan

You know nothing about the 1960 election, but carry on with your ignorance.

JFK gave 2 major addresses during his candidacy on this subject;

Remarks of Senator John F. Kennedy at American Society of Newspaper Editors, Washington, DC, April 21, 1960 "The Religion Issue in American Politics"

And this famous speech;

Address of Senator John F. Kennedy to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association, Rice Hotel, Houston, Texas, September 12, 1960

"I am not the Catholic candidate for President. I am the Democratic Party's candidate for President who happens also to be a Catholic. I do not speak for my church on public matters--and the church does not speak for me."

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBNlS8Zg1WA]YouTube - Address of Senator John F. Kennedy to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association.[/ame]

 

[ginscpy]

I was 7 during the 1960 election.

10 when JFK was assainated.

A person of vision.

Would have pulled out of nam. Landed Americans on the Moon.

 

[Bfgrn]

I was 7 during the 1960 election.

10 when JFK was assainated.

A person of vision.

Would have pulled out of nam. Landed Americans on the Moon.

Our 35th President had a much more ambitious agenda. He was murdered because he was engaged in too much un-American activity...

*Negotiated peace with the Soviet Union
*Normalized relations with Cuba
*An end to our involvement in Vietnam
*And the real killer...PEACE

JFK and the Unspeakable

 

[bodecea]

More political than religeous.

Catholic /Epicispalian is one and the same - and not much difference from the other Protestant branches.

Although it was a big deal for a while in Northern Ireland (The Troubles) what the frick were they fighting over ? Seems to have calmed down

You are taking today's attitudes about Catholics and placing it 50 years in the past. His Catholicism was a huge issue then...and many people did not want a Catholic president, saying it would put our president under orders from the Pope.

 

[Zoom-boing]

This thread doesn't seem to have a point.

Sure it does. It's on top of ginscpy's head.

 

[Bfgrn]

More political than religeous.

Catholic /Epicispalian is one and the same - and not much difference from the other Protestant branches.

Although it was a big deal for a while in Northern Ireland (The Troubles) what the frick were they fighting over ? Seems to have calmed down

You are taking today's attitudes about Catholics and placing it 50 years in the past. His Catholicism was a huge issue then...and many people did not want a Catholic president, saying it would put our president under orders from the Pope.

Here is the story and the 'phone call' that won the election...

----------------------------------------

Remembering Coretta Scott King...

And so it's worth remembering that of all the moments when she stood at history's hinge, one of the most important was when she was most human, most vulnerable, six months pregnant and wondering about the odds of her husband surviving a four month sentence of hard labor in a rough Georgia jail.

The moment came in October of 1960, when Martin Luther King led a student sit in of Atlanta's segregated snack bars and restaurants. He was arrested at the Magnolia Room restaurant, along with more than 50 other people. But while they were all released on bail, Dr. King was held on a technicality — a traffic violation, no less — and sentenced to hard time at the State penitentiary in Reidsville.

It was reasonable to fear that he would not come out alive, given the atmosphere of boiling violence at the time. And so as his friends, and his wife, anguished, so did the two men running for president, in an election just a few weeks away in which few issues were as crucial, and hard to calculate, as the course of race relations in America.

Writing about the campaign when it was all over, Richard Nixon admitted that there was "one incident which, in retrospect, might have been avoided or at least better handled." Despite a civil rights record he was proud of, he did not have any comment on the case. Like John Kennedy, Nixon was desperately trying to figure out how to attract northern black voters without alienating southern white ones. And so he decided the best course was to say nothing.

Kennedy's political strategists were torn over the right response. More than one southern Democratic governor had warned them even before the arrest that an endorsement of Dr. King's crusade would cost them the state in the election. But Kennedy's brother in law, Sargent Shriver, got him alone in a room and urged the candidate to just pick up the phone. As the story has been told by historians from Theodore White to Taylor Branch and many in between, Jack Kennedy called Coretta Scott King to tell her of his concern and offer to help in any way he could. "I know this must be very hard for you, and I just wanted you to know that I was thinking about you and Dr. King. If there is anything I can do to help, please feel free to call on me." Mrs. King replied that she'd be grateful for anything he could do. The next day his brother Bobby was calling the sentencing judge to seal a deal that would end with King's release.

In the final heat of the campaign, most people in the country had little idea what had occurred. But Coretta King, alight with gratitude, told her family and friends, who told others, who spread the word. Dr. King's father, Martin Luther King Sr., himself a renowned Baptist preacher, had come out a few weeks before for Vice President Nixon, mainly on religious grounds. But this episode was enough too convince him that he could vote for a Catholic candidate after all. "Because this man was willing to wipe the tears from my daughter (in-law's) eyes" he said, "I've got a suitcase of votes, and I'm going to take them to Mr. Kennedy and dump them in his lap."

The Presidents and Mrs. King - TIME

Now we know why MLK Jr's father supported a Catholic in 1960. John Kennedy had the courage to do what was right, and Richard Nixon didn't...

 

[editec]

More political than religeous.

Catholic /Epicispalian is one and the same - and not much difference from the other Protestant branches.

Although it was a big deal for a while in Northern Ireland (The Troubles) what the frick were they fighting over ? Seems to have calmed down

The American people were more sensible about the role of religion in politics than they are today.

The Nativists influence was on the wane back in the early 60s.

That xenophbic sentiment is still with us, of course, and seems to be thriving on the anti-immigrant wave of disgust for how our nation is NOT dealing with that problem.

As to Northern Ireland?

While the schism in that unhappy land is clearly religious, the motivation for it is about economics and power sharing.

The Irish would like their counties back.

And after 700 years of obvious prejudice against the sons of Ireland one can hardly blame them.

 

[geauxtohell]

More political than religeous.

Catholic /Epicispalian is one and the same - and not much difference from the other Protestant branches.

Although it was a big deal for a while in Northern Ireland (The Troubles) what the frick were they fighting over ? Seems to have calmed down

Oh bullshit. Do you clowns think you can just make up your own version of history?

A key factor that hurt John F. Kennedy in his campaign was the widespread prejudice against his Roman Catholic religion; some Protestants believed that, if he were elected President, Kennedy would have to take orders from the Pope in Rome. To address fears that his Roman Catholicism would impact his decision-making, John F. Kennedy famously told the Greater Houston Ministerial Association on September 12, 1960, "I am not the Catholic candidate for President. I am the Democratic Party's candidate for President who also happens to be a Catholic. I do not speak for my Church on public matters — and the Church does not speak for me."[14] He promised to respect the separation of church and state and not to allow Catholic officials to dictate public policy to him. Kennedy also raised the question of whether one-quarter of Americans were relegated to second-class citizenship just because they were Roman Catholic. Kennedy would become the first (and so far only) Roman Catholic to be elected President, but after the election, it was widely believed that Kennedy lost some heavily Protestant states[which?] because of his Catholicism.[citation needed]

United States presidential election, 1960 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Not so ironically, the goof-ball right wingers were trying to make political hay out of Kennedy's religion just as they are trying to make political hay out of the fact that Obama is not a WASP (in various, sly ways: i.e. "how well do we know Obama?")