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The candidacy of John F. Kennedy provoked widespread discussion of issues relating to church and state and to the role of Catholics in American politics. This text is the inside story of that dramatic campaign and is the first scholarly examination based on actual voting returns. It includes a detailed analysis of the vote in every state, revealing that religion affected the outcome of the election far more than previously thought. Kennedy lost more votes than he gained due to his religious affiliation, but by crafting a strong coalition, he prevailed in one of the closest races in presidential history.
This study establishes religion as a major explanatory variable in American presidential voting behavior. The main focus of the study is the six most recent presidential elections, running from 1960 through 1980. The specific tasks include measuring the link between religion and presidential voting in each of these years and explaining exactly how this linkage takes place.
The 1960 election settled the question of whether a Catholic can be elected to the highest office in the land. The aim of this book is to report and evaluate the campaign charges against Catholicism and indicate what they reveal of contemporary American attitudes regarding (1) the relationship of religion to politics, (2) the compatibility of Catholicism and American freedom, (3) trends in interfaith dialogue, and (4) the expanding dimensions of the whole problem of religious liberty. Despite President Kennedy's election, familiar charges against Catholicism are very much alive, and this text draws attention to persistent underlying tensions which lend themselves to fruitful exploration or fatal exploitation. This book is a summons to reflection on the past, and a call to continuing public argument on issues the campaign of 1960 revealed to be still burning among us.