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WHEREFORE WENT THE WASPS?

Prior to the election of Catholic John Fitzgerald Kennedy in 1960, it was unthinkable that the president of the United States would be other than a White, Anglo-Saxon Protestant (WASP)—and, of course, be of the male sex. The historical withdrawal of the WASPS from contention in this election has been so sudden and imperceptible that it seems to have escaped the notice of all of the news sources of which I am aware. Since JFK, an Italian-American, Catholic woman and a Jew have run unsuccessfully as vice presidential candidates.

Among the current candidates who remain statistically viable to take the presidency, there is an Irish-Catholic, Mormon, Italian-Catholic, African American and a woman. The notable exception is Senator John McCain who, although Irish, is Episcopalian-cum-Baptist.

Because of our concentration on the very palpable Black-White divide in this country, we sometimes forget that there was a time when one was marginalized just for being Irish and/or Catholic. Also discriminated against were the “ethnics,” who in an earlier time were the European immigrants such as the Italians and Polish, etc. And, of course, the Mormons were not only marginalized, they were reviled, murdered and chased across half the country, until they settled in the State of Utah. Another historical fact that we frequently overlook is that the Constitution gave Black men the vote about fifty years before women wrenched the franchise for themselves. There was a time in this country when Jews, regardless of their prominence in education, the arts and business, were politically and socially ostracized.

With all the static and hoopla surrounding us on a daily basis, we sometimes forget the U.S. had been around for less than two and a half centuries. Although for some of us who recall the really bad old days of the deprivation of individual liberties, we must take notice that, with the stability of the Constitution and the innate goodness of people, significant progress has been achieved.