A Catholic in the White House?: Religion, Politics, and John F. Kennedy's Presidential Campaign

A Catholic in the White House?: Religion, Politics, and John F. Kennedy's Presidential Campaign by Carty, T.. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9781403962522.

According to most political and religious scholars and pundits, JFKs victory in 1960 symbolized Americas evolution from a Protestant nation to a pluralist community that included Catholics as all citizens. However, if the presidential election of 1960 was indeed a turning point for American Catholics, how do we explain the failure of any Catholic - in over forty years - to repeat Kennedys accomplishment? In this exhaustively researched study that fuses political, cultural, social and intellectual history, Thomas Carty challenges the assumption that JFKs successful campaign for the Presidency ended decades, if not centuries, of religious and political tension between American Catholics and Protestants, paving a new role for Catholics in American presidential politics.