Rhetoric Race and Religion
On September 12, 1960, then senator, and presidential candidate, John F. Kennedy stood before a room of protestant ministers to try and convince them that he was not beholden to the Vatican or to the tenants of his faith. Two weeks prior, a group of protestant ministers met in Washington and made a declaration that Kennedy could not be considered independent of the Roman Catholic Church unless he denounced their teachings. His appearance in Houston was designed to address the issue and the numerous rumors associated with his religion.
When Kennedy spoke before the Houston Ministers Conference, he was nearing the end of his campaign and had been having a difficult time with the so-called religion issue. Even though he had been in Congress for 14 years, as a Catholic, he was deemed untrustworthy to hold the office of president.
Kennedy and his advisers had prepared for this when he was considering his run. There had been only one other Catholic candidate for president prior to him. In 1928, New York Governor Alfred E. Smith had to fight against Catholic prejudice, much of which had been stirred up by the Ku Klux Klan. He was unable to convince voters that he would not would amend the Constitution to make Catholicism the official religion or that he would build a tunnel connecting the White House and the Vatican.
Herbert Hoover won the election.
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