When John F. Kennedy entered the presidential limousine at Love Field in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963, he began his ride into history. That journey continues even today and we call it the Kennedy legacy. This course will explore the Presidency, assassination, and lasting legacy of President John F. Kennedy. Students will learn how JFK’s life, administration, and tragic death have influenced the general public, the media, and each of the nine U.S. presidents who followed. Understanding the Kennedy legacy and being able to identify elements of his legacy within the context of modern politics helps understand many of the vexing problems that developed over the last half century as well as many of the challenges that confront us today. November 22, 1963 was so powerful a moment that in the fifty years since the assassination, every U.S. President that followed JFK has used Kennedy’s words and actions in an effort to craft their own political image. Why does Kennedy’s influence persist, and will it continue? What are the effects? We’ll address these questions and more as we explore The Kennedy Half Century. Follow on Twitter: @JFKclass.
Religion and Politics
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En provenance du cours de University of Virginia
The Kennedy Half Century
262 notes
Rencontrer les enseignants
Professor Larry J. SabatoRobert Kent Gooch Professor of Politics
Director, UVA Center for Politics
[MUSIC]
>> Many have suggested that religion and politics should not mix.
But the intermingling of the two was a major factor
in the life and political career of John F Kennedy.
Especially as he rose to prominence on the national stage.
As I noted in the introduction to
this class, my father, a devout Catholic, believed
deeply in civic participation, partly because of
his study of history and his recent experiences
in Europe during the war.
Other than casting a ballot for his
former supreme allied commander, General Eisenhower in 1952.
Dad had voted straight Democratic.
At least in the region I called home, the
south, there was more than a little prejudice about papus.
When we visited a rural, heavily Baptist part of
Virginia every summer, I was told not to bring
up my religion.
Maybe the inhospitable climate that Catholic children sensed generated a
natural tribalism that caused us to cheer as a co-religionist ran for President.
And in the end, Kennedy received 80% of the Catholic vote in November, 1960.
Nixon, meanwhile, got 69% of Protestants, more than race, more than gender,
more than region.
Religion explained the 1960 election results.
Catholics were traditionally Democratic, and early skepticism that Kennedy
could actually win the party nomination had melted away.
After Kennedy's 61% primary victory in heavily
Protestant West Virginia, on May 10th, 1960.
No one underestimated what was called The Catholic Problem.
If it could affect and infect a convention hall full of
fellow democrats, as it did at the 1956 Democratic National Convention.
How could Kennedy overcome it with
a less friendly, heavily Protestant national electorate?
Even the sainted Eleanor Roosevelt wondered aloud whether a president Kennedy
could make decisions without the approval of the pope at the Vatican.
Privately, Democrats of all stripes worried that
they could be inviting another 1928, when
their Catholic presidential nominee, Al Smith, was
swamped by Republican Herbert Hoover for President.
Kennedy did what he could to address the concerns,
and came out against US diplomatic ties with the Vatican.
He also came out against federal aid
to parochial schools, these were two priorities
in the Roman Catholic Community.
As a member of the Senate, Kennedy kept up a grueling
pace of appearances around the country, often neglecting his Senate work.
Nonetheless he won a massive landslide over a little know
Massachusetts Republican in 1958 to secure his second Senate term.
And contrary to his image today, Kennedy
was determined to tiptoe around civil rights,
maintaining good ties with many southern Democrats, in and out of the Senate.
He targeted, union corruption in his speeches to
neutralize one frequent Republican talking point about Democrats.
>> I think the fact that the United States Senate
passed it by a vote of 90 to one indicates
that that is the opinion of the majority of the
Senate, it provides for strict reporting on all union expenditures.
It provides a federal penalty for any misstatement
in the union reports, for destruction of records.
It provides for secret elections, with adequate opportunity to
nominate candidates for full public counting of the ballots.
It provides for a limitation of a year on trusteeships,
for fiduciary standards for the use of all union funds.
It provides a prohibition against the hiring of convicted
felons as union officers, it provides a stiff
federal penalty for employer payoff to union leaders.
It provides for full disclosure of any conflict
of interest where a union leader may own
a piece of a company with which he
is bargaining collectively on behalf of the workers.
In a whole variety of ways, it provides protection for the union members.
To the honest business men in the general public.
I'm confident
that the House of Representatives will pass a similar bill.
And it will be on the President's desk
for his signature before the Congress goes home.
I think this is must legislation, I think it
crowns with success, the important revelations and investigations carried
on by the McClellan Committee on which I have
served for the past two and a half years.
It must become law.
>> And he spent much of his rhetorical fire power,
attacking the Eisenhower administration, for
being insufficiently tough on the Soviets.
>> Let us never forget, that our goal is peace.
But peace would have no meaning if the time ever came when the Soviet Union would
have sufficient military lead over us to destroy
our capacity to strike back in one blow.
We cannot be certain that the Soviets will have this power
during the term of office of the next administration.
And we cannot be certain that even if they had that power they would use it.
But I am convinced that every American, who is fully
informed as to our dangers, would agree to an additional
investment in our national security at this time rather than
risk his survival, the survival of his children, the survival
of our nation. And that this year's budget is our last
chance to prevent the Soviet Union from moving ahead of us, perhaps
decisively, in military power. We cannot avoid taking these measures.
Anymore than we would avoid taking fire insurance on our homes.
We cannot be absolutely certain of the danger, but if we are
to err, I think we should err on our security.
To make sure that we never invite a nuclear war through our own weakness.
I ask therefore an investment in peace.
By strengthening the defensive forces of the United States.
>> By the time JFK formally announced for president,
in early January 1960, he was widely considered the
man to beat but not the unassailable front runner for the Democratic nomination.
Kennedy had to prove in 16 state Democratic
primaries, that he could overcome his religious handicap.
His most serious primary opponent, was
Senator Hubert Humphrey, a Protestant liberal.
Kennedy swept neighboring New Hampshire in March, and that was expected because,
it's next door to Massachusetts.
But the real battle commenced in April's Wisconsin primary.
JFK hoped to show he could win a Protestant state
adjoining Hubert Humphrey's own Minnesota, and he did so with 56%.
But, his votes came mainly from Catholic areas.
Kennedy lost the Protestants strongholds in Wisconsin badly.
Shaken by the results the Kennedy campaign moved into
West Virginia, a Protestant state that voted on May 10th.
Kennedy confronted the religious issue directly and called for tolerance.
>> you would be divided between two loyalties and to your church and
to your state if you were, if you were to be elected president.
[LAUGH]
>> Your question is, whether I think that if I were elected
President, I would be divided between two loyalties, my church and my state.
let me just say that I would not.
I have sworn to uphold the Constitution.
In the 14 years I've been in Congress, in the years I was in the service,
the Constitution provides the first amendment that Congress
shall make no laws abridging the freedom of religion.
I must say I believe in it,
I think it's the only way that this country can go ahead.
Many countries do not believe in it.
Many countries have unity between church and state.
I would be completely opposed to it.
And I say that whether I'm elected President or whether
I continue as a Senator or whether I'm a citizen.
That is my view based on a long experience.
So in answer to your question, I would fulfill my oath
of office as I have done for 14 years in the Congress.
There is no article of
my faith that would in any way inhibit.
I think it encourages the meaning of my oath of office, and whether
you vote for me or not, because of my competence to be President,
I am sure that no one believes that I'd be a candidate for
the Presidency if I didn't think I could meet my oath of office.
Secondly, article six of the Constitution says
there shall be no religious test for office.
That's what was written in the constitution.
Jefferson, Washington, and all the rest,
they said every American will have an opportunity.
Now you cannot tell me that the day I was
born, it was said I could never run for President.
Because I wouldn't meet my oath of office.
I would not have come here if I didn't feel that I was going
to get complete opportunity to run for office as a fellow American in this state.
I would not run for it if in any way, I didn't feel that I could do the job.
I come here today saying that I think that this is an issue that
[NOISE].
>> Oddly, JFK's West Virginia campaign manager
Bill Battle, found that introducing Kennedy as Irish Catholic, rather
than Roman Catholic, appeared to make a difference
with many voters, perhaps because of the ethnic connection.
And Franklin D Roosevelt Junior, the son of god,
as he was called, at least in poor states,
stomped all over the mountain state for JFK.
The result, was almost 61% for Kennedy in West Virginia.
This ended Hubert Humphrey's campaign.
The Minnesotan could be forgiving for looking
at JFK's money, his charisma, his family machine,
and say, as he did, he quote, felt
like an independent merchant competing against a chain
store, unquote.
From then on, almost all the smart money was on
John F Kennedy to be the Democratic nominee for president.
However, the Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson launched a late
and pretty serious stop Kennedy bid, and other candidates such
as Adlai Stevenson, who'd been the nominee in 1952 and
1956, and Missouri senator Stuart Symington, stayed in the race
despite Kennedy's lead.
[MUSIC]
>> Senator Stuart Symington's headquarters are placid in comparison.
He's right an outsider.
Despite the forceful support of president Truman, the only major threat to
Kennedy's hopes among the declared candidates
is Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson.
Supporters of an undeclared candidate, Adlai
Stevenson demonstrate with faith and hope undaunted.
Democrats battle happily, getting in fighting
trim for the real fall come November.
[MUSIC]
>> At the mid-July Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles, Kennedy
managed to win on the first ballot with only two delegate votes to spare.
>> Convention fever grips Los Angeles where the Democrats convene.
In the arena, $1 million worth of communications
equipment and a press corps outnumbering the delegates.
Will cover the candidates and the politicking.
Partisans of Senator Kennedy radiate
the cheer and confidence of the powerful
front-runner who is clearly the man to beat.
>> He named his program and his eventual
administration the New Frontier, and that was done
in his acceptance address, delivered at the Los
Angeles Coliseum instead of the usual convention hall locale.
In order to have a larger audience.
[MUSIC]
>> Climactic moments at the Democratic convention.
In Los Angeles, months of politicking reached the moment
of decision as candidates are placed in nomination before a
Democratic National Convention that reflects a party tradition of hard
infighting despite a steamroller drive by Senator John F Kennedy.
Late-starting Senate Majority Leader Lyndon
Johnson poses the principle challenge.
After his strong showing with solid South support, he was named Vice-Presidential
candidate in a bid for party unity.
But, from the start, the man to watch was a hard-running
senator from Massachusetts, placed in nomination
by Minnesota's governor Orville L Freeman
To lead us to a fruitful america, to a peaceful world for mankind everywhere,
is the great senator from the state of Massachusetts, John F Kennedy.
[SOUND]
>> But the front-runner faced the challenge of
another popular Democrat, nominated by Minnesota senator Eugene McCarthy.
[SOUND]
>> This favorite son I submit to you, Adlai Stevenson from Illinois.
[SOUND]
>> Stevenson's nomination touched off one
of the convention's most spectacular outbursts.
[SOUND]
Among his supporters, Eleanor Roosevelt, and New York's
Governor Lehman, two of the party's most prominent figures.
[SOUND]
But on the balloting, it's a Kennedy landslide.
>> Mister Chairman, Wyoming's vote will make a majority, for Senator Kennedy.
[SOUND]
>> Before the first ballot is concluded, Wyoming
clinches the Kennedy triumph with the deciding polls.
[SOUND]
A tremendous first ballot victory, and the new standard bearer makes his appearance.
[SOUND]
>> In our devotion to this country, we wish to keep it strong.
And we wish to keep it free.
It requires, at this critical time, the best of
our all of us, and I can assure all
of you here, who have reposed this confidence in
me, that I will be worthy of your trust.
We will carry the fight to the people in the fall, and we shall win.
[SOUND]
>> As I've
noted before, I attended Catholic schools growing up,
so when Kennedy was elected, all the talk on
the school bus and in the class room,
was about the election of the first Catholic President.
Following the election, one of my friends seriously asked
a nun if the Pope would still have his powers.
She assured us that Pope John, the 23rd remained in the
saddle over in Vatican City, and was probably very pleased with
the news from America.
Following the election in many Catholic homes, a photo of John Kennedy was
actually placed right next to the Pope's, and often Jesus Christ.
As his presidency wore on, the uniqueness of Kennedy's Catholicism wore off.
This is true for all leaders.
The radical notion of an African American president in January 2009,
now seems pretty ordinary to most people. Almost expected.
After three years of JFK it had become obvious to everyone, but
the peculiarly hard headed, that the Pope was not calling the shots.
Kennedy's Catholicism was mentioned less
frequently by Catholics and non-Catholics alike.
But the day that President Kennedy died I recall standing
at my school locker, collecting my belongings and I said to a friend, he
was the only Catholic President and he didn't even live to finish his term.
It was perhaps an odd way to
instantly interpret the assassination but I think this
reveals how and why the impact was
so intense for many Catholics of Kennedy’s death.
To this day, Kennedy has been the only Catholic Chief Executive
in the United States. Take a look at this film of the meeting
between President Kennedy and the new Pope succeeding John the 23rd,
Pope Paul the sixth in June 1963 during the President's trip to Italy.
this turned controversial.
Because when Catholics meet the Pope, at least at that
time, they are supposed to kneel and kiss the Pope's ring.
President Kennedy did no such thing. He shook the Pope's hand.
He did not want to give more ammunition to anti-Catholic forces
back in the United States just in time for his reelection race.
Needless to say, some officials in the Vatican were disappointed and unhappy.
It's never easy to reconcile the
sometimes conflicting forces of religion and politics.
[BLANK_AUDIO]
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