Norman Vincent Peale

====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"/>