Rooney Center Hosts Panel on First Catholic President
In November 1960, John F. Kennedy defeated Richard M. Nixon in what is considered one of the closest elections of the 20th century. The election is also noted in the history books because it ushered into the White House the first Roman Catholic to hold the nation’s highest office. To look at what this meant—and still means today—to American politics, the University of Notre Dame’s Francis and Kathleen Rooney Center for the Study of American Democracy has invited a group of leading political scholars and authors to join in a panel discussion titled Shattering the Stained Glass Ceiling: 50 Years After the Election of America’s First Catholic President.