Tues., April 6: JFK on Faith and Civic Responsibility
Due Tuesday, April 6
Come having read and prepared to discuss:
JFK Speech to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association — your textbook, pages 333-336*
*Be sure to read the editors’ introduction to the speech!
Background
From the Eleanor Roosevelt Papers:
John Kennedy’s Catholicism, perhaps more than any specific legislative or policy issue, dominated the early days of his campaign. The March 1959 interview he gave to Look Magazine, in which he argued that “whatever one’s religion may be . . . for the office holder nothing takes precedence over his oath to uphold the Constitution and all its parts,” prompted Catholics to accuse him of placing ambition over faith and spurred many non-Catholics to accuse of him of acquiescing to bigotry. …
On September 12, 1960, Kennedy, in his major attempt “to separate bigots from the honestly fearful,” accepted an invitation to address 300 clergymen attending the Greater Houston Ministerial Association. [His] remarks [were] replayed around the nation for the next seven weeks …