The Faiths of the Founding Fathers, an acclaimed look at the spiritual beliefs of such iconic Americans as Franklin, Washington, and Jefferson, established David L. Holmes as a measured voice in the heated debate over the new nation’s religious underpinnings. With the same judicious approach, Holmes now looks at the role of faith in the lives of the twelve presidents who have served since the end of World War II.
Holmes examines not only the beliefs professed by each president but also the variety of possible influences on their religious faith, such as their upbringing, education, and the faith of their spouse. In each profile close observers such as clergy, family members, friends, and advisors recall churchgoing habits, notable displays of faith (or lack of it), and the influence of their faiths on policies concerning abortion, the death penalty, Israel, and other controversial issues.
Whether discussing John F. Kennedy’s philandering and secularity or Richard Nixon’s betrayal of Billy Graham’s naïve trust during Watergate, Holmes includes telling and often colorful details not widely known or long forgotten. We are reminded, for instance, how Dwight Eisenhower tried to conceal the background of his parents in the Jehovah’s Witnesses and how the Reverend Cotesworth Lewis’s sermonizing to Lyndon Johnson on the Vietnam War was actually not a left- but a right-wing critique.
National interest in the faiths of our presidents is as strong as ever, as shown by the media frenzy engendered by George W. Bush’s claim that Jesus was his favorite political philosopher or Barack Obama’s parting with his minister, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright. Holmes’s work adds depth, insight, and color to this important national topic.
DAVID L. HOLMES was the Walter G. Mason Professor of Religious Studies Emeritus at the College of William and Mary. His books include the The Faiths of the Founding Fathers, A Brief History of the Episcopal Church, A Nation Mourns, and The Life of the Rev. Devereux Jarratt.
MARTIN E. MARTY has taught at the University of Chicago in its Divinity School, its Department of History, and its Committee on the History of Culture. He is the author of more than forty books, including the three-volume Modern American Religion; The One and the Many; Politics, Religion, and the Common Good; and Righteous Empire, which won the National Book Award. Marty has long been associated with the Christian Century as an editor and writer, and he is a past president of the American Academy of Religion, the American Society of Church History, and the American Catholic Historical Association.
DAVID L. HOLMES was the Walter G. Mason Professor of Religious Studies Emeritus at the College of William and Mary. His books include the The Faiths of the Founding Fathers, A Brief History of the Episcopal Church, A Nation Mourns, and The Life of the Rev. Devereux Jarratt.
Harry S. Truman 1 Dwight D. Eisenhower 24 John F. Kennedy 45 Lyndon Baines Johnson 76 Richard M. Nixon 99 Gerald R. Ford 124 James Earl Carter Jr. 143 Ronald Wilson Reagan 173 George Herbert Walker Bush 197 William Jefferson Clinton 215 George W. Bush 240 Barack Hussein Obama 270
