The presidential election of 1960 between John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon is regarded as a highly significant episode in American political history. Shaun Casey's book focuses on one dimension of this watershed election by exploring the role that Kennedy's Catholicism played in his bid for the White House. Specifically, he provides an in-depth historical analysis to show how the religious and political viewpoints of Catholics and Protestants shaped the campaign strategies of both Kennedy and Nixon leading up to the 1960 election. Readers will find it very useful to read this book alongside Thomas J. Carty's A Catholic in the White House: Religion, Politics, and John F. Kennedy's Presidential Campaign, since the two studies complement each other well. Together these books provide a solid foundation for anyone trying to understand the role of religion during that eventful campaign season.

Casey paints a picture in which Kennedy was very aware of the potential hurdles that his Catholic faith would present for a possible bid for the White House long before 1960. As a result, the author begins his story by stepping back to the late 1950s to show how Kennedy and his supporters anticipated problems regarding his Catholicism as he worked to move up the political ladder. Kennedy began laying the ground-work regarding his run for the White House in part so that he could confront religion-related problems well in advance of the next presidential election. More importantly, he hoped that his efforts would move the Democratic Party beyond the first attempt by a Roman Catholic, Al Smith, to run for the presidency in 1928 against Herbert Hoover. For example, Casey explains how Kennedy and his political operatives used the infamous Bailey memo of 1956 to elevate discussions in the national media, and among the general public about the importance of electing more Catholic candidates to a variety of political offices in the United States (6).

Kennedy was directly involved with developing strategies during the 1960 election season to convince voters that a Kennedy White House and its policy agenda would not be influenced by the Vatican. Specifically, Kennedy sought to allay fears among the public by explaining to them that he was a strong supporter of both freedom of religion and a “separation of church and state” (171). Despite his efforts, Kennedy often was unable to convince Protestants, and even some fellow Catholics, that he could govern without being influenced by the Catholic Church. As a result, he was unable to cast aside the “Catholic question” during his entire campaign.

Casey also goes into great detail analyzing the influence that core religious leaders, especially G. Bromley Oxnam, E. S. James, Father John Cronin, Norman Vincent Peale, and Billy Graham, had on both the Kennedy and Nixon campaigns. In addition, he explores how editors of various religious publications, such as Christian Century and Christianity and Crisis, and organized groups, such as Protestants and Other Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the National Association of Evangelicals, mobilized to have their political views heard during the 1960 election. In fact, one of the great strengths of this book is that Casey demonstrates how various religious leaders and groups were mobilized to pursue their political agendas during the 1960 election — even if it meant using a strong “hidden-hand” approach behind the scenes to undercut their opponents.

Overall, Casey's book provides readers who possess little or no knowledge about the 1960 presidential election with a highly detailed introduction to the way in which concerns about Kennedy's Catholicism continually overshadowed his presidential campaign. This study also moves beyond assessing Catholics and Protestants as two separate and opposing monolithic blocs and instead demonstrates how there was not always agreement within either camp about how to handle religion as a campaign issue in 1960. Apart from its strengths, there is one weakness in this book. Although Casey occasionally provides some information about Nixon's efforts to address and respond to the issues that arose in relation to Kennedy's Catholicism, the author focuses most of his attention on the Kennedy campaign. A fuller treatment of the core election strategies that Nixon and his campaign staff employed to counteract “the Catholic question” as well as to reach out to various religious groups, voters, and members of the media would be useful in this study.

This book is written in an engaging and lively manner that will appeal to a broad readership both within and outside the academic community. It will be of great importance to students of history, religion, and sociology. In the field of political science, scholars in a variety of subfields will find this book useful for its analysis of the significance of religion in the 1960 presidential campaign, including those who study religion and politics, campaigns and elections, the American presidency, interest groups, and political parties. Apart from the academic world, this book should be of interest to any general reader who is intrigued by the historical and central role that religion has played in American electoral politics.