JOHN F. KENNEDY AND AMERICAN CATHOLICISM

by Lawrence H. Fuchs ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 17, 1967

As its title indicates, this work discusses Kennedy in relation to the Catholic Church in America. The relationship which Mr. Fuchs has in mind, however, is almost purely a historical one; that is, he uses the Kennedy presidency as a terminal point in what is essentially a short history of the emancipation of the American Catholic first from an externally imposed condition of second-class citizenship and then from a self-imposed confinement in a political, intellectual, and emotional ""Catholic ghetto."" The first part of the book covers the period from colonial times to the present; the second is a brief examination of Kennedy's Catholicism as a factor in his political life, in which the presidential election of 1960 is seen as the culmination of the slow historical process of that double emancipation. The work is not -- nor, obviously, is it intended to be -- a definitive or thorough treatment of the subject. As brief and comprehensive coverage, however, it is balanced, objective, and intelligible, and it will recommend itself particularly to the non-Catholic reader.

Pub Date: March 17, 1967

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Meredith

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1967

Categories: NONFICTION