This week I began reading a few books about the JFK election and the role of Catholicism in it.  I mainly found factual information, which was not as useful to us, but some of the content was relevant to our discussions of legends and their making.  In particular, the book The Religious Factor in the 1960 Election makes the point that we actually know very little about JFK’s catholicism, the particulars of which he kept private.  The fact that he was Catholic was a prominent topic of debate, but the actual details were not known.  Still, historians refer to him as “the most important Catholic in American history.”  This was interesting to me because I, at least, thought of Kennedy and the other Presidents (especially the recent ones) as being known for their individual, well-detailed accomplishments, as opposed to shadowy figures of the past such as Sacagawea who were mainly figureheads for a certain cause.  The book made me wonder wether Kennedy’s legend is more similar to hers or, as I think most people would assume, someone like Jefferson who made actual, praise-worthy contributions to the US.  The idea that his symbolic significance outweighs his practical achievements is supported by the fact that not only Roman Catholics, but many other American minorities such as Jewish and African Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans voted for him and saw him as a hope for a better future.

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