W. A. Criswell

===Presidential elections===

In 1960 Criswell published an article attacking the appropriateness of Roman Catholics to serve as president, titled "Religious Freedom, the Church, the State, and Senator Kennedy."  The address, the text of which is available from the [[Kennedy Library]] archives,<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.jfklibrary.org/Asset-Viewer/Archives/JFKCAMP1960-1019-007.aspx |title = Religious literature: Criswell, Dr. W. A. &#124; JFK Library}}</ref> stoked the concern of some Protestants at the prospect of a Catholic President, to which the Senator in question ([[John F. Kennedy]]) responded in a speech in which he cast himself as the candidate of the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic party]] rather than of the Catholic church, and committed himself to the [[separation of church and state]].<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16920600 |title = Transcript: JFK's Speech on His Religion|website = [[NPR]]}}</ref>  In 1976, Criswell supported the election of the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] [[U.S. President]] [[Gerald Ford|Gerald R. Ford Jr.]], an [[Episcopal Church in the United States of America|Episcopalian]], rather than the Southern Baptist [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] nominee, former [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]] [[Governor]] [[Jimmy Carter]].