He was elected president on a Democrat ticket, and became president, succeeding the Conservative Thomas S. Gates, Jr., on 3 January 1961. Kennedy became a popular president at home and abroad, when speaking for minority rights, himself being Roman Catholic and thus belonging to a religious minority in the union, and when he visited Berlin and strongly advocated a democratization of the German Empire and of Europe. However, he was killed on 22 November 1963 at a state visit to Texas, and was succeeded by his father, Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr., who until that moment served as vice president in his government.