John F. Kennedy defeated incumbent Vice President Richard Nixon in 1960 to become the 35th President of the United States of America (1961-1963), the youngest man ever elected to the Presidency who was also a Catholic.
In 1960, I was 13 years old and my staunch Democratic Parents demanded that my sister, brother, and I be present at dinner unless my father was away on a business trip. The Kennedy win was a topic of conversation at dinner since my parents viewed him contemptuously and stated often that our President was going to be controlled by the Catholic Church which they also found distasteful but I never knew why or I cannot remember why they felt this way if they had, in fact, said something... but, as far as Kennedy was concerned, I do remember because my mother forced me to read PROFILES IN COURAGE... which was interesting because while she wanted me to know about courageous people she DID NOT WANT me to be courageous myself... because of all the negative attention that would be directed towards her... at least, that is what I believed.
At 72 years of age, I look back at 1960 and wonder why my DEMOCRATIC PARENTS who were very religious themselves did not support the Catholic Church, especially when the Catholic Church is referenced in the APOSTLES CREED which is the cornerstone of the United Methodist Church's beliefs and is chanted every Sunday in Church.
My parents raised all their children in the United Methodist Church.
Both my parents are dead now and I am somewhat of a composite of both their teachings and influences but I do not share their contempt for the Catholic Church, nor do I support the Democratic Party which has shifted too far to the left for me. In fact, I don't believe that I ever really supported the Democratic Party since Kennedy's assassination. Except for Jimmy Carter, I have never really been able to TRUST any of them, especially since they do not practice what they preached.
