JFK and MR -- by JOHN FEA

JFK Speech to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association

Sunday night CSPAN’s “Road to the White House” ran Kennedy’s September 12, 1960 speech to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association. (You can also watch it at American Rhetoric) This speech, for those of you who are unfamiliar with it, is JFK’s attempt to put to rest the notion that one could be a faithful Catholic and a faithful American president. Interest in this speech, of course, has been revived in light of similar questions about Mitt Romney’s Mormonism.

I have read the speech before, but never seen the footage. The Houston Protestant clergymen grilling Kennedy in the Q&A portion is worth your time. What a wonderful teaching tool.