President Eisenhower today told his press conference that he was firmly opposed to injection of religious issues in election campaigns. Mr. Eisenhower said:
“Mr. Nixon and I agreed long ago that one thing that we would never raise, and never mention, is the religious issue in the coming campaign, I have made my position clear.” The President added: “I not only don’t believe in voicing prejudice. I want to assure you I feel none. And I am sure that Mr. Nixon feels exactly the same.”
Mr. Eisenhower pointed out that “the need for protesting innocence in this regard “seems to exacerbate the situation rather than to quiet it.” He said no one had suggested to him that religion should be used as an election issue. He voiced hope that religion “could be one of those subjects that could be laid on the shelf and forgotten until after the election is over.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
