Asked in a 1999 Republican debate in Iowa who his favorite political philosopher was, then-candidate George W. Bush said that it was Jesus.
“And like a lot of people I kind of scratched my head at that,” said religion scholar Randall Balmer. “I don’t fault Governor Bush for that answer. It’s a legitimate answer. What are you going to say to a question like that? ”˜Machiavelli’ is probably not going to win you a lot of votes. So I’m not criticizing the answer.”
However, this answer got him thinking about “how 40 years earlier the Democratic nominee for president, John Kennedy of Massachusetts, had to address the so-called religion issue in the 1960 presidential campaign.