J. D. Vance, Catholicism, and the Postliberal Turn

John F. Kennedy’s successful bid for the US presidency in 1960 largely put paid to the Kulturkampf type of anti-Catholicism that had prevailed in the country since the late nineteenth century – the belief that Catholics ought to be excluded from high office as their allegiance to the state would always be subordinate to their allegiance to Rome. I don’t suppose, however, that anyone at the time imagined that Catholics would come to have the heightened presence and influence that they do now.