50 Years after Kennedy: Would Americans elect a Muslim President today? (original) (raw)

Lutherans on Religion and the 1960 Presidential Election

Journal of Lutheran Ethics, 2007

Sixty years ago in another election year a Roman Catholic was running for President of the United States. Perhaps few times, if ever, in the history of the United States have questions about the religion of a candidate for President been more prominent than during the 1960 election. Citizens vigorously debated and many cast their votes on how they answered this question: Does the Roman Catholicism of John F. Kennedy disqualify him from being President? Many Lutherans were intensely concerned about the issue and deeply involved in the public conversation about it. This interest is evident in church periodicals, in three official church statements, and in a controversial statement from 20 Lutheran theologians supporting Kennedy. This article documents this interest and provides perspective for reflections on religion and public office today.

Robert F. Kennedy: The Senate Years

1993

This study traces Kennedy's political development from his election to the Senate in 1964 to his death in 1968. During that time, he transformed from a hesitant and orthodox liberal to spearhead a new radicalism and develop an alternative coalition for the Democratic Party. In the domestic arena, he proposed an alternative approach for urban renewal, and became remarkably popular with black voters (even more popular than has previously been accepted). This study attempts to fathom the full extent of this relationship and how powerful it could have become. Kennedy was also among the first politicians of his generation to use the political muscle of the youth groups which were springing up in the mid-'60s, and the alternative labour organisations (most notably in California) which found themselves excluded from the old union power structures. The study also charts his rise in the anti-Vietnam war movement, and questions his reputation as a hard-line anti­ communist which emerg...