Norman Vincent Peale

====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>