God and Man in Kansas IIa: The Kennedy Compromise

It was 1960. I was two and Jack Kennedy was running a president. That was a big deal for JFK was a Catholic.

The idea of a Catholic in the White House worried a lot of folks, hardcore Protestants who were afraid that JFK would take orders from the Pope and no one could eat hamburgers on Friday.

As we know now, dear Jack himself probably ate burgers on Friday. Lord knows he did worse than that. Mildly, he was not overly pious; a super Catholic he was not.

So he had no problem saying that his faith would not affect his actions asg President. This and perhaps his dad's money helped get him elected.

OK. But in reality, no one really expected him to ban burgers on Friday or divorce, to be more serious, divorce. So Kennedy was not betraying the Church. Thus, his Compromise made being Catholic no bar to the White House or to Holy Communion.

In 1973, Roe v Wade made being a Catholic in politics a hell of a lot trickier. How?
That's my next post.

Keep hoping.