Kennedy Essay

James Cruse

ENG 105

6/22/2012

Russ Schwarz

John F. Kennedy, his issue over his religious belief and the presidency

President John F. Kennedy on September 12, 1960 during his campaign for election gave a speech on the separation of church and state. (Kennedy, 1960) In his speech, he stated that there should be an absolute separation of church and state in order, to refute claims that he would use his office to further the views of the Catholic Church. However, the public misconstrued from the speech that he stood for a total separation of church and state. This essay will discuss the history of the reason for his speech, the man himself, the repercussions of the speech, and how it reflected on President Kennedy and his political career.

In 1960, the presidential race has been over shadowed with tension between Catholics and Protestants; Mr. Kennedy was the first catholic candidate which raised concerns about his candidacy. Richard Nixon exploited this concern for his own gain to try and add more fuel to an already volatile situation. At that time there were already religious tensions existing at the time between the catholic and protestant religions. The Vatican was also holding the conclave of bishops to declare and promote religious liberty at this same time; specifically. The Roman Catholic hierarchy sought preferential treatment from governing bodies around the world.

These events caused the Protestants to worry that a catholic president would promote the views of the Roman Catholic Church: Ultimately banning the use of contraceptives, promoting censorship of books and movies, and offering governmental aid to parochial schools. Anticipating these concerns, Mr. Kennedy reassured the voters and those that were in attendance that there would be no governmental aid to or for parochial schools that they would remain independent (Kennedy, 2010). He also mentioned that he would not promote any such agenda that the measure of a...