 Nyorai kupfuurira kweiyi ndima - Cushing akagadzwa kuva Cardinal-Priest weSanta Susanna nechisarudzo chaPapa John XXIII mu consistory yaDecember 15, 1958. Akanga ari mumwe wavakadhinari vakasarudzwa mu1963 papal conclave, iyo yakasarudza Pope Paul VI. Shamwari yepedyo yemhuri yaKennedy, akaita muchato waJohn F. Kennedy naJacqueline Lee Bouvier muna 1953, paakaverengawo munamato wakasarudzika kubva kuna Pope Pius XII, uye akabhabhatidza vana vazhinji vaKennedy. Cushing akapa chikumbiro chomunyengetero pakugadzwa kwaKennedy muna 1961. Mufundisi wacho akapembererawo Misa yomariro aPurezidhendi Kennedy muna 1963 paSt. Matthews Cathedral, Washington, D.C., pashure pokuurayiwa kwaKennedy muDallas, Texas. Zuva rakatangira mariro acho, akapa hurukuro yokurumbidza Mutungamiriri weNyika paterevhizheni. Cushing gare gare akadzivirira Jacqueline Kennedy pashure pokuroorana kwake naAristotle Onassis muna 1968. Akagamuchira nhamba huru yetsamba dzoruvengo uye akapokanidzwa neVatican. 