Yes, I agree that was one of the facets in this issue ... the way it was stated in the press...
but there was a broader concern (Protestant prejudice) about what Kennedy would do as a Catholic President.
Here are some quotes from Wiki
Quote:
At the 1956 Democratic National Convention, Kennedy was nominated
for Vice President on a ticket with presidential nominee Adlai Stevenson,
but finished second in the balloting to Senator Estes Kefauver of Tennessee.
Kennedy received national exposure from that episode;
his father thought it just as well that his son lost, due to the political debility
of his Catholicism and the strength of the Eisenhower ticket.
|
Quote:
Kennedy visited a coal mine in West Virginia;
most miners and others in that predominantly conservative, Protestant state
were quite wary of Kennedy's Roman Catholicism.
His victory in West Virginia confirmed his broad popular appeal.
|
Quote:
To address fears that his being Catholic would impact his decision-making,
he famously told the Greater Houston Ministerial Association on September 12, 1960,
"I am not the Catholic candidate for President.
I am the Democratic Party candidate for President who also happens to be a Catholic.
I do not speak for my Church on public matters – and the Church does not speak for me."[48]
Kennedy questioned rhetorically whether one-quarter of Americans were relegated
to second-class citizenship just because they were Catholic, and once stated that,
"No one asked me my religion [serving the Navy] in the South Pacific."
|