KENNEDY FACES RELIGIOUS ISSUE HEAD ON IN TEXAS
Houston, Texas (JFK+50) On September 13, 1960, The Evening Star reports that last night the Democratic presidential nominee appeared on a "dramatic televised tussle with the 'religious issue' that is dogging his campaign."
Senator John F. Kennedy (D-Massachusetts) spoke to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association at the Rice Hotel.
The Kennedy-Johnson campaign spent $5600 for television time in hopes of ending "criticism of the...Senator's Catholic faith."
Senator Kennedy said...
"I believe in an America where religious intolerance will someday end. I am not the Catholic candidate for president. I am the Democratic Party's candidate for president who happens to be a Catholic."
The Rev. George Avent, one of 250 Protestant ministers in attendance, said...
"This man has demonstrated...he can teach all of us a solid lesson in freedom."
JFK+50 NOTE
In 1960, there had been no POTUS of the Roman Catholic faith. New York Governor Al Smith was first Catholic candidate for President & he was defeated in a landslide by Herbert Hoover in 1928.
JFK had made great strides in overcoming this history by facing the "religious issue" head on in the West Virginia primary which he won despite the state being 90% protestant & by addressing the Houston Ministerial Association.
SOURCES
"Historic Speeches: Address To The Greater Houston Ministerial Association," JFK Presidential Library and Museum, www.jfklibrary.org/
"Kennedy Tells Pastors Just Where He Stands," by David S. Broder, The Evening Star, Washington, D.C., September 13, 1960, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/
"Transcript: JFK's Speech on His Religion," NPR, December 5, 2007, www.npr.org/
