John F. Kennedy And JFK: Revolutionizing Catholic America

JFK: Revolutionizing Catholic America
Religion continues to be one of the most universally controversial topics. Many people derive their morals, ethics, and lifestyle from their religion. One religion that is particularly influential is Catholicism. Today there are millions of Catholics living across America. They are very much accepted as a part of society. This is mainly because of the many advances and acts of individual Catholics over time. One leader who was particularly well known for doing these things was the 35th President of the United States. John F. Kennedy has, and continues to have, a profound effect on how American society views Catholicism and its ideals. John F. Kennedy shaped the acceptance of Catholicism into the American
Demonstrating his Catholic faith in public helped Kennedy in this campaign. His religion made him more relatable to the average people of Boston. During this time, Boston’s Archbishop Richard Cushing invited JFK to recite the rosary with him on the radio, and a photo of John and his mother Rose presenting a $600,000 donation to Cushing for a new Catholic hospital for children appeared in the Boston Pilot. Kennedy won the congressional race in a landslide with 71.9% of the vote over his opposition Lester W. Bowen. Kennedy’s Catholic views were a different matter when it came to the presidential race. A presidential race was a completely different challenge from a congressional. During his presidential campaign against Republican Richard Nixon, Kennedy faced fear and discrimination in order to overcome the stiff and virtually undefined boundary between church and state
He hired speechwriter Ted Sorensen, Dean Francis Bowes Sayre Jr. of the National Cathedral and several journalists. Kennedy knew from the beginning he had to do well in order to prove that he was a viable national candidate. It was important that he was able to win the protestant vote, or all of the other small minorities in order to win. One instance where he won despite not having the protestant vote was in the Minnesota primary. He defeated Hubert Humphrey who was a member of the United Church of Christ (another Christian denomination). This says something about the fact that not all of America was against a Catholic leader and when it comes down to it Kennedy’s politics came before his religion.
When JFK ran for President he said some things that Catholic Bishops today may not approve of: “I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute— where no catholic prelate would tell the president (should he be catholic) how to Act.” JFK was fighting the idea that he had an extreme Catholic bias; he knew that in order to win his bid for presidency he would have to figure out what to do with his religious versus his public image. He decided that his best course of action was to entirely separate the two (Mount 213). He learned how to do this throughout his life with the help of his