Norman Vincent Peale

===Political controversies===
====Peale and rightist/anti-semitic claims====
{{more citations needed section|date = January 2022}}
For a time,{{when|date = January 2022}} Peale was acting Chairman and Secretary of the [[National Committee to Uphold Constitutional Government]] (NCUCG),<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/digital/collections/rbml/lehman/pdfs/0719/ldpd_leh_0719_0027.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=July 19, 2020 |archive-date=December 5, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201205170936/http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/digital/collections/rbml/lehman/pdfs/0719/ldpd_leh_0719_0027.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>{{verification needed|date = January 2022}} a pressure group opposed to Franklin Roosevelt's policies.{{citation needed|date = January 2022}}<!--put "right-wing" back in when you can quote it from a source.--> In 1938, he was summoned by a Senate Committee Investigating Lobbying Activities, to answer questions concerning the NCUCG's activities.<ref>{{cite journal | author = Beito, D., & Witcher, M. | date = 2016 | title = "New Deal Witch Hunt": The Buchanan Committee Investigation of the Committee for Constitutional Government | journal = The Independent Review | volume = 21 | issue = 1 | pages = 47–71 | jstor = 43999676 | url = https://www.jstor.org/stable/43999676 | access-date = July 19, 2020}}</ref>{{verification needed|date = January 2022}}

Also. late in 1938, Peale appeared with [[Elizabeth Dilling]], the Reverend [[Edward Lodge Curran]], [[Francisco Franco]], and other <!--MORE "right wing"-using EDITORIALZING REMOVED-->figures at a "Mass Meeting and Pro-American Rally" (on October 30),<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1938/10/30/99568668.pdf|title=Events Today|work=The New York Times }}</ref> at the [[Grand Hyatt New York|Commodore Hotel]] in New York; this event was later described by [[Arthur Derounian]] (John Roy Carlson) in his 1943 book ''[[Arthur Derounian#"Under Cover"|Under Cover]]''.{{citation needed|date = January 2022}} Rev. Curran was a known supporter of Franco and other right-wing causes,<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Not stated--> | date = February 16, 1974 | title = Obituary: Edward Curran, Right-Wing Priest | work = The New York Times| url = https://www.nytimes.com/1974/02/16/archives/edward-curran-rightwing-priest-anticommunist-supporter-of-coughlin.html | access-date = January 26, 2022 }}</ref> as well as being "an anti‐communist and... an advocate of the, 'social justice' credo of [[Charles Coughlin|Father [Charles] Coughlin]], who was eventually ordered, off the air by his superiors" (and who Peale had earlier called out and harshly criticized for his "bizarre demogogy" in 1935).<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Not stated--> | date = May 13, 1935 | title = Dr. Peal Attacks Father Coughlin | work= The New York Times | url = https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1935/05/13/94607620.html | access-date = January 26, 2022 }}</ref> Peale claimed to have been distressed by Derounian's book, that he had been badgered into giving the convocation (a pre-meeting prayer) by a parishioner, and that he had no idea of the nature of the rally.{{citation needed|date=January 2022}} He further claimed to be particularly distressed at the association with Dilling.{{citation needed|date=January 2022}} He considered but as was advised against filing a defamation case against the publisher, [[G P Putnam's Sons|Putnam's]], as it was not feasible given the fact that he had in fact delivered the convocation as described.<ref>{{cite book | author = George, Carol V. R. | year=1993 | title = God's Salesman: Norman Vincent Peale and the Power of Positive Thinking | pages = 170f | location = New York, New York | publisher = Oxford University Press | isbn = 9780195074635 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=JobZAAAAMAAJ | access-date = January 26, 2022 | quote = }}</ref>{{verification needed|date = January 2022}}

In 1943, after the U.S. entry into [[World War II]], Peale preached a sermon denouncing antisemitism and demanding that the government and church take steps to "stamp it out."<ref>[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1943/11/08/85131928.pdf Peale Urges Action To End Anti-Semitism], New York Times November 8, 1943.</ref> As late as 1944, Peale was still described as the Chairman of the Committee for Constitutional Government, and had his signature appended to its publications.{{citation needed|date=October 2021}}

====Peale and Adlai Stevenson====
Peale is also remembered in politics because of the [[Adlai Stevenson II|Adlai Stevenson]] quote: "I find [[Paul of Tarsus|Saint Paul]] appealing and Saint Peale appalling." The origin of the quote can be traced back to the 1952 election, when Stevenson was informed by a reporter that Peale was accusing him of being unfit for the presidency because he was divorced. Later during his 1956 campaign for president against [[Dwight Eisenhower]], Stevenson was introduced at a speech with: "Gov. Stevenson, we want to make it clear you are here as a courtesy because Dr. Norman Vincent Peale has instructed us to vote for your opponent." Stevenson stepped to the podium and quipped, "Speaking as a Christian, I find the Apostle [[Paul of Tarsus|Paul]] appealing and the Apostle Peale appalling."<ref name=gagorder>{{cite news|first=Dave|last=Hoekstra|title=A former president's gag order; Ford's symposium examines humor in the Oval Office|newspaper=[[Chicago Sun-Times]]|date=September 28, 1986|page=22}}</ref> In 1960, a reporter asked Stevenson about a comment in which he denounced Peale for accusing [[John F. Kennedy]] of being unfit for the presidency because he was [[Catholic Church|Catholic]], to which Stevenson responded: "Yes, you can say that I find Paul appealing and Peale appalling."

Stevenson continued to lampoon Peale on the campaign trail in speeches for Kennedy. Though [[Richard Nixon]] and other Republicans tried to distance themselves from the furor which was caused by Peale's [[Anti-Catholicism|anti-Catholic]] stance, Democrats did not let voters forget it. President [[Harry Truman]], for one, accused Nixon of tacitly approving Peale's anti-Catholic sentiment, and it remained a hot issue on the campaign trail.<ref name="Newsweek"/> Regarding Peale's intrusion into Republican politics, Stevenson said in this transcript of a speech given in San Francisco: "Richard Nixon has tried to step aside in favor of Norman Vincent Peale (APPLAUSE, LAUGHTER)&nbsp;... We can only surmise that Mr. Nixon has been reading 'The Power of Positive Thinking.' (APPLAUSE). America was not built by wishful thinking. It was built by realists, and it will not be saved by guess work and self-deception. It will only be saved by hard work and facing the facts."<ref>{{cite web|title=Transcript of Adlai Stevenson speech in San Francisco, 1960|website=Pacific Radio Archives|url=http://www.pacificaradioarchives.org/projects/transcripts/pdf/adlai_jfk.pdf | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101127095208/http://www.pacificaradioarchives.org/projects/transcripts/pdf/adlai_jfk.pdf |archive-date=November 27, 2010 }}</ref>

At a later date, according to one report, Stevenson and Peale met, and Stevenson apologized to Peale for any personal pain which his comments might have caused Peale, though Stevenson never publicly recanted the substance of his statements. There is no record of Peale apologizing to Stevenson for his attacks on Stevenson.<ref>{{cite news |id={{ProQuest|176106898}} |last1=Buursma |first1=Bruce |title=Religion: Peale's still a positive power |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=27 October 1984 |page=8 }}</ref> It has been argued{{by whom|date=March 2022}} that even Peale's "positive thinking" message was by implication politically conservative: "The underlying assumption of Peale's teaching was that nearly all basic problems were personal."<ref>[http://www.answers.com/library/Britannica%20Concise%20Encyclopedia-cid-1792895319 Answers.com] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120119170903/http://www.answers.com/library/Britannica%20Concise%20Encyclopedia-cid-1792895319 |date=January 19, 2012 }}, from ''Britannica Concise Encyclopedia'' starting with ''In 1960&nbsp;... ''</ref>

====Peale and John F. Kennedy====
Peale was invited to attend a strategy conference of about 30 [[Evangelicalism|Evangelicals]] in [[Montreux, Switzerland]], by its host, the well-known evangelist [[Billy Graham]], in mid-August 1960. There they agreed to kick off a group called The National Conference of Citizens for Religious Freedom in Washington the following month. On September 7, Peale served as its chairman and spoke for 150 [[Protestant]] clergymen, opposing the election of [[John F. Kennedy]] as president.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V5aZBgAAQBAJ |first=H. Larry |last=Ingle |title=Nixon's First Cover-up: The Religious Life of a Quaker President |pages=101–06 |publisher=[[University of Missouri Press]] |location=Columbia, Missouri|isbn=9780826273352 |date=July 7, 2015 }}</ref> "Faced with the election of a Catholic," Peale declared, "our culture is at stake."<ref name="Newsweek">{{cite magazine|title=The Religious Issue: Hot and Getting Hotter|magazine=[[Newsweek]]|date=September 19, 1960}}</ref>

In a written manifesto, Peale and his group also declared that Kennedy would serve the interests of the Catholic Church before he would serve the interests of the United States: "It is inconceivable that a Roman Catholic president would not be under extreme pressure by the hierarchy of his church to accede to its policies with respect to foreign interests," and the election of a Catholic might even end free speech in America.<ref name="Newsweek"/>

Protestant theologian [[Reinhold Niebuhr]] responded, "Dr. Peale and his associates&nbsp;... show blind [[prejudice]]."<ref name="Newsweek"/> Protestant Episcopal Bishop [[James Pike]] echoed Niebuhr: "Any argument which would rule out a Roman Catholic just because he is Roman Catholic is both bigotry and a violation of the [[First Amendment|constitutional guarantee of no religious test for public office]]."<ref name="Time">{{cite magazine|title=The Power Of Negative Thinking|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|date=September 19, 1960}}</ref> Peale's statement was also condemned by former President [[Harry Truman]], the Board of Rabbis, and other leading Protestants such as [[Paul Tillich]] and [[John C. Bennett]].<ref name="Time"/> Peale recanted his statements and he was later fired by his own committee. As conservative [[William F. Buckley]] described the fallout: "When&nbsp;... The Norman Vincent Peale Committee was organized, on the program that a vote for Kennedy was a vote to repeal the First Amendment to the Constitution, the [[Society of Jesus|Jesuits]] fired their Big Bertha, and Dr. Peale fled from the field, mortally wounded."<ref name="NatRev">{{cite magazine|first=William F.|last=Buckley|author-link=William F. Buckley|title=We Hold These Truths|magazine=[[National Review]]|date=January 28, 1961}}</ref> Peale subsequently went into hiding and threatened to resign from his church.<ref name="NYT">{{cite news|title=Beliefs|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=October 31, 1992}}</ref> The fallout continued as Peale was condemned in a statement by one hundred religious leaders and dropped as a syndicated columnist by a dozen newspapers.<ref name="NYT"/>