Fifty years later...

 

 

Today is the fiftieth anniversary of Senator John F. Kennedy’s address to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association. I have commented on this speech before, but this is the first and last time I’ll have the opportunity to offer several observations on the fiftieth anniversary of its delivery.

 

Much can be said about this speech after concluding a careful study of the text, and a little more can be gleaned in light of comparing the text to the recording of the address as delivered, which is available at the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum site. One important fact surrounding this address is this: it was made by a politician seeking higher office for which the election was less than two months away and the outcome of the election was uncertain. While recognizing that the religious issue was an important matter before the voters (Can a Catholic be a loyal American office holder? Well, the fact that he had been a holder of elective office for some time would suggest an affirmative answer to this question.), Senator Kennedy was quick to call attention to the far more pressing issues of the day—e.g., economic issues, tense international relations, and the security of the nation with an imposing threat 90 miles off the coast of Florida which would come to a head in two years. Still, as a politician seeking office, he made a gamble which was this: telling not only the Protestant ministers gathered at the site where he was delivering his address but also the American people that he believed “in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute.” I suspect that this statement was intended to placate those who believed without question that no one who claimed to be Catholic could also be a loyal citizen and, therefore, a competent and effective President.

 

But in noting this political assertion and the unsound Constitutional argument on which it is based and signifies, the politician-candidate John F. Kennedy understood well that he could not alienate his co-religionists with this gamble designed to win sufficient support from Protestants. So, perhaps with Saint Thomas More in mind, he concluded this address by pointing out that “if the time should ever come—and I do not concede any conflict to be even remotely possible—when my office would require me to either violate my conscience or violate the national interest, then I would resign the office; and I hope any conscientious public servant would do the same. But I do not intend to apologize for these views to my critics of either Catholic or Protestant faith—nor do I intend to disavow either my views or my church in order to win this election.”

 

John F. Kennedy, as candidate, did not want to alienate anyone who might be inclined to vote for him on any and all grounds. John F. Kennedy, as candidate, wanted, like his opponent Vice President Nixon, to win this election. As it turned out, Kennedy prevailed and was awarded the office for which he labored so hard to achieve.

 

Now we must fast forward a bit to a little over four months later on a bright but bitterly cold day in Washington, D.C. on the steps of the Capitol where the same John F. Kennedy stood but this time not as candidate for the office of the President of the United States but as the President of the United States duly elected by his fellow citizens—and the Electoral College. As President, John F. Kennedy opened his Inaugural Address by saluting his vice-president, the former Chief Executive and his vice-president, a past Chief Executive, the Chief Justice of the United States, his fellow citizens, and the Reverend Clergy, including the Archbishop of Boston, Richard Cardinal Cushing. Now with the office of President securely his, there was no need for Kennedy to conceal Catholicism or at least its appearance in the public square. Thus, the new President in the second sentence of his inaugural address informed his audience before him and the audience around the world which listened or watched that he had “sworn before [them] and Almighty God the same solemn oath our forbears prescribed nearly a century and three-quarters before.” Many recall his famous words: “Ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.” But other words spoken by the new President demand our attention today.

 

Before his audience—wherever they were—heard this famous exhortation about service, President Kennedy declared in the first substantive paragraph of the address these words of significance: “The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life. And yet the same revolutionary beliefs for which our forbears fought are still at issue around the globe—the belief that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state but from the hand of God.” [Italics mine]

 

Would any American politician today invoke the name of God in such fashion? With very few exceptions, most would probably not—not out of lack of conviction but out of fear of the political consequences. Here we need to keep in mind that a few paragraphs later, the President relied on the prophet Isaiah’s command “to undo the heavy burdens... (and) let the oppressed go free.” But with the election a thing of the past and with the prospect of four and perhaps eight years of a presidency ahead of him, John F. Kennedy concluded his stirring inaugural address with these two sentences: “whether you are citizens of America or citizens of the world, ask of us here the same high standards of strength and sacrifice which we ask of you. With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God’s work must truly be our own.” These words could well be the assertion of any disciple of Jesus Christ who accepts the missionary charge: “you too go into my vineyard.”

 

While there may be other statements made by President Kennedy that put into context the address delivered to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association, one other speech delivered about a half year before his assassination needs to be considered here. On April 20, 1963 at an educational institution that was at that time unambiguously Catholic, President Kennedy, speaking at the school’s centennial observance, felt confident to speak as a Catholic before a diverse audience of Catholics, Protestants, Jews, and others of different faiths and some of no faith. The President took the occasion to comment on Pope John XXIII’s very recent encyclical letter Pacem in Terris. Here is what he had to say:

 

In its penetrating analysis of today’s great problems, of social welfare and human rights, of disarmament and international order and peace, that document surely shows that on the basis of one great faith and its traditions there can be developed counsel on public affairs that is of value to all men and women of good will. As a Catholic I am proud of it; and as an American I have learned from it. It only adds to the impact of this message that it closely matches notable expressions of conviction and aspiration from churchmen of other faiths... We are learning to talk the language of progress and peace across the barriers of sect and creed. [Italics mine]

 

Where the politician, where the President, and where the Catholic John F. Kennedy would take all the views in the future is unknown. But one thing is for certain: these were all his views. To take one alone would do disservice to his memory but, more importantly, to the republic which he served and to the Church to which he belonged.

 

RJA sj