Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
John F. Kennedy, Barack Obama, and the Politics of Ethnic Incorporation and Avoidance

John F. Kennedy, Barack Obama, and the Politics of Ethnic Incorporation and Avoidance

Smith, Robert C.

Paperback

Series: Suny African American Studies

Black American StudiesGeneral Political ScienceGeneral United States History

ISBN10: 1438445601
ISBN13: 9781438445601
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Published: Jan 2 2014
Pages: 266
Weight: 0.84
Height: 0.66 Width: 5.99 Depth: 9.09
Language: English

Fascinating look at the challenges faced by John F. Kennedy and Barack Obama in their quests to win the presidency.

Political analysts and journalists often draw analogies between John F. Kennedy, the first Catholic Irish president, and Barack Obama, the first African American president. Their election to the nation's highest office was historic, but for reasons not fully appreciated. In John F. Kennedy, Barack Obama, and the Politics of Ethnic Incorporation and Avoidance, Robert C. Smith provides a fascinating comparison of the challenges both men faced in their bid for the presidency, while at the same time providing comparative histories of the Catholic Irish and African American struggles to overcome racial and religious subordination in America. Kennedy's Catholicism was an explicit issue in the 1960 election, and once elected he was extremely careful to avoid appearing either too Irish or too Catholic. While Obama's race was not an explicit issue in the 2008 election, he was just as careful to avoid appearing too black. Paradoxically religion-thanks to rumors and lies about whether Obama was a Muslim-became a substitute for race, allowing Republican strategists to otherize Obama by raising the issue of religion in the context of national security and terrorism.

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