May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963
When on this day in 1963 President John Fitzgerald Kennedy was assasinated the country was more than devastated. Many people still recall where they were when they heard the mind-numbing news. It was the Friday after Thanksgiving. My Lutheran church, big on outreach, held a Thanksgiving luncheon the day before for folks with no families. And so on November 22, 1963, I was at church helping to clear the tables and chairs from our large community hall. The pastor appeared from his office to tell us that our president had been shot.
I also remember President Kennedy's run for office and the turmoil in the country created by Protestants over the fact that he was Roman Catholic. I didn't understand the fuss at the time. I think that he must have felt what nonbelievers experience still today, that we are second-class citizens just because we don't conform to the US Christian norm. But Kennedy had the advantage of speaking to the entire nation in defense of his religion and how it would not affect his presidency.
"To allay fears that his Catholicism would impact his decision-making, he said in a famous speech in Houston, Texas (to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association), on September 12, 1960, "I am not the Catholic candidate for President. I am the Democratic Party's 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." Kennedy also brought up the point of whether one-quarter of Americans were relegated to second-class citizenship just because they were Catholic."
"Kennedy is also sometimes credited with giving American Catholics the full recognition they deserved as American citizens. He is also seen as responsible for giving Catholics full opportunities in politics outside of the Northeast."
Wikipedia
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