The Inauguration of John F. Kennedy

Father Richard J. Casey greets John F. Kennedy, the first Roman Catholic to be elected president of the United States, after he attended Friday Mass at Holy Trinity Church in Georgetown the morning of the inauguration, January 20, 1961. According to Richard Tofel, religion was a dominant issue in the primaries and general election and “Kennedy was not above using his faith to political advantage” (12). While according to a Gallup poll in 1956 twenty-two percent of voters said that they would not vote for a well-qualified Catholic from their party, Tofel says in 1960 Catholics who voted “their faith over their politics may have provided the margin of victory in five states” (12). (Courtesy of the Library of Congress LC-USZ62-70671)

Tofel, Richard. Sounding the Trumpet: The Making of John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Address. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 2005.