Joseph P. Kennedy sparked up a friendship with Father Cavanaugh when he became a member of University of Notre Dame's Board of Trustees. Beginning in 1958, Father Cavanaugh advised Joseph P. Kennedy on a strategy for addressing American Protestant concerns about the potential election of a Roman Catholic president. In 1959, Father Cavanaugh also advised Joseph P. Kennedy on the hiring of Harris Wofford for the 1960 Presidential Campaign. The future Senator from the State of Pennsylvania was a civil rights attorney then teaching at Notre Dame Law School. Father Cavanaugh, as former president of the University, approached Father Theodore Hesburgh to arrange a leave of absence. Cavanaugh was present with the Kennedy family at Hyannisport in 1960, as they anxiously awaited returns from the swing states of Michigan, Illinois, Minnesota and California in the unexpectedly close Presidential election.