Separation of Church and State

Spellman and Roosevelt.

The issue of government aid to parochial schools remained divisive through the decade of the 1950s. Attempts to provide federal aid to education were opposed by the Roman Catholic church when the legislation that was proposed specifically prohibited any money going to church-run schools. In 1949 Eleanor Roosevelt, widow of the former president Franklin Roosevelt, supported federal aid with such restrictions. In a bitter letter Francis Cardinal Spellman, Archbishop of New York, accused Mrs. Roosevelt of anti-Catholic prejudice and announced "I shall not again publicly acknowledge you."

Protestant Outrage.

While the quarrel between Mrs. Roosevelt and the archbishop was publicly papered over, his letter stimulated an outcry and triggered the revitalization of the Protestants and Others Organized for the Separation of Church and State. Paul Blanshard, head of Protestants and Others, published two...

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