Norman Vincent Peale

Norman Vincent Peale (May 31, 1898 – December 24, 1993) was an American Protestant clergyman, the eldest of three sons of Charles and Anna (née Delaney) Peale.

Peale graduated from Bellefontaine High School, Bellefontaine, Ohio in 1916. He attended and earned a bachelor's degree at Ohio Wesleyan University, where he became a brother at the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity. After graduating from Ohio Wesleyan, he worked as a newspaper reporter in Findlay, Ohio, and then in Detroit, Michigan. Blanton handled psychiatric cases and Peale handled religious issues.

When Peale published his book, The Power of Positive Thinking in 1952, Blanton joined many members of the mental health community, and refused to endorse Peale's book. In the meantime he continued to edit Guideposts magazine, and his sermons went out monthly to an extensive mailing list.

The Art of Living became the first of his books from New York City, in 1937, from Abingdon Press, which spoke of a power that individuals had within themselves that they could "tap" through "applied Christianity".) By the end of World War II in 1945, Peale, his wife Ruth, and Raymond Thornburg (a businessman from Pawling, New York), had founded Guideposts magazine, a non-denominational forum that presented inspirational stories. "ranking it – behind the Bible – as one of the highest-selling spiritual books in history". He was the author of 46 books, the last being Bible Power for Successful Living, published in 1993.

Organizations

During the Depression, Peale teamed up with J.C. Penney & Co. founder James Cash Penney, radio personality Arthur Godfrey, and IBM founder and President Thomas J. Watson, forming (and sitting the first board of) 40Plus, an organization aimed at helping unemployed managers and executives.

In 1947 Peale and educator Kenneth Beebe co-founded The Horatio Alger Association, an organisation that aimed to recognize and honor Americans successful in spite of difficult circumstances. Other organizations Peale founded include the Peale Center, the Positive Thinking Foundation, and Guideposts Publications.

Personal life

On June 20, 1930, Peale married Iowan teacher Loretta Ruth Stafford. The wedding was officiated by his father, and held in Syracuse. Peale was a 33-degree Freemason of the Scottish Rite.

Later life

President Ronald Reagan awarded Peale the Presidential Medal of Freedom (the highest civilian honor in the United States) on March 26, 1984, for originating a "philosophy of happiness" and for "helping millions find new meaning in their lives."

Peale died at age 95 following a stroke, on December 24, 1993, in Pawling, New York and a "Confidence Man." Donald B. Meyer also seemed to agree with Murphy's assessment, presenting similar warnings of a religious nature. In his article "Confidence Man", Meyer wrote, "In more classic literature, this sort of pretension to mastery has often been thought to indicate an alliance with a Lower rather than a Higher power." The mastery Peale speaks of is not the mastery of skills or tasks, but the mastery of fleeing and avoiding one's own "negative thoughts". Meyer wrote, exaggerated fear inevitably leads to aggression: "Battle it is; Peale, in sublime betrayal of the aggression within his philosophy of peace, talks of 'shooting' prayers at people."

Psychologist Albert Ellis, founder of the branch of psychology known as cognitive psychology, documented in several of his books the many individuals he has treated who suffered mental breakdowns from following Peale's teachings. Ellis' writings warn the public not to follow the Peale message. Ellis contends the Peale approach is dangerous, distorted, unrealistic. He compares the black or white view of life that Peale teaches to a psychological disorder (borderline personality disorder), perhaps implying that dangerous mental habits which he sees in the disorder may be brought on by following the teaching. "In the long run [Peale's teachings] lead to failure and disillusionment, and not only boomerang back against people, but often prejudice them against effective therapy."

Psychologist Martin Seligman, former APA president and the founder of the branch of psychology known as Positive Psychology, differentiated Peale's positive thinking from his own positive psychology, while acknowledging their common roots.

Seligman went on to say "Positive thinking often involves trying to believe upbeat statements such as 'Every day, in every way, I am getting better and better,' in the absence of evidence or even in the face of contrary evidence. ... Learned optimism, in contrast, is about accuracy".

Theological critique

Episcopal Church theologian and future bishop John M. Krumm criticized Peale and the "heretical character" of his teaching on positive thinking. Krumm cites "the emphasis upon techniques such as the repetition of confident phrases... or the manipulation of certain mechanical devices", which he says "gives the impression of a thoroughly depersonalized religion. Very little is said about the sovereign mind and purpose of God; much is made of the things men can say to themselves and can do to bring about their ambitions and purposes." Krumm cautions that "The predominant use of impersonal symbols for God is a serious and dangerous invitation to regard man as the center of reality and the Divine Reality as an impersonal power, the use and purpose of which is determined by the man who takes hold of it and employs it as he thinks best."

Theologian Reinhold Niebuhr, professor of applied Christianity at the Union Theological Seminary, reported similar concerns about positive thinking. "This new cult is dangerous. Anything which corrupts the gospel hurts Christianity. And it hurts people too. It helps them to feel good while they are evading the real issues of life."

Liston Pope, Dean of Yale Divinity School, agreed with Neibuhr. "There is nothing humble or pious in the view this cult takes of God. God becomes sort of a master psychiatrist who will help you get out of your difficulties. The formulas and the constant reiteration of such themes as "You and God can do anything" are very nearly blasphemous."

Political issues

Peale and the Committee for Constitutional Government

In 1942, Peale replaced Samuel B. Pettengill as the chairman of the National Committee to Uphold Constitutional Government (NCUCG). The NCUCG was a pressure group opposed to Franklin Roosevelt's policies. In 1945, Peale was succeeded by Willford I. King as chairman of the NCUCG.

In 1938, Peale appeared with Elizabeth Dilling, and Reverend Edward Lodge Curran at a "Mass Meeting and Pro-American Rally" at the Commodore Hotel in New York. Curran was widely known as an "anti‐communist" and a supporter of American isolationism. An article in The Daily Worker described the event as an "anti-Semitic rally", with New York representative John J. O'Connor and Fritz Kuhn, leader of the German American Bund, in attendance at the rally as well. The event was also described by John Roy Carlson in his 1943 book Under Cover: My Four Years in the Nazi Underworld of America as a "pro-American mass meeting sponsored by more than 50 patriotic organizations." Peale said that he was distressed by Carlson's book; that he had been badgered into giving the invocation by a parishioner, and that he had no idea of the nature of the rally. He considered but was advised against filing a defamation case against the publisher, Putnam's, as it was not feasible given the fact that he had in fact delivered the invocation as described.

In 1943, after the U.S. entry into World War II, Peale preached a sermon denouncing anti-semitism and urging that the government and church take steps to "stamp it out."

Peale and Adlai Stevenson

Peale is also remembered in politics because of the Adlai Stevenson quote: "I find 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 appealing and the Apostle 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 that was caused by Peale's 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 contentious issue on the campaign trail.

Peale and John F. Kennedy

Peale was invited to attend a strategy conference of about 30 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. "Faced with the election of a Catholic," Peale declared, "our culture is at stake."

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. As conservative Catholic William F. Buckley described the fallout: "When ... the committee was organized, on the program that a vote for Kennedy was a vote to repeal the First Amendment to the Constitution, the Jesuits fired their Big Bertha, and Dr. Peale fled from the field, mortally wounded." Peale subsequently went into hiding and threatened to resign from his church. 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.

Influence

Five U.S. presidents, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, and George H. W. Bush spoke well of Peale in the documentary about his life, Positive Thinking: The Norman Vincent Peale Story. The documentary was Nixon's final television appearance.

The Reverend Billy Graham said in 1966, that "I don't know of anyone who had done more for the kingdom of God than Norman and Ruth Peale or have meant any more in my life for the encouragement they have given me."

Mary L. Trump in Too Much and Never Enough wrote that Donald Trump's father, Fred Trump, was "immediately drawn to Peale’s teachings". As a child, Donald Trump attended Marble Collegiate Church with his parents. Both he and his two sisters, Maryanne and Elizabeth, were married there. Trump has repeatedly praised Peale and cited him as a formative influence. Peale officiated Donald Trump's first wedding.

Scott Adams, creator of Dilbert, says Peale's writing influenced him to achieve success.

Cultural references

Peale was the subject of the 1964 feature film, One Man's Way, starring Don Murray.
A widely reprinted editorial in the Los Angeles Times stated that the 2006 book and DVD The Secret both borrow on Peale's ideas, and that The Secret suffers from some of the same weaknesses as Peale's works.
In the 1987 graphic novel Watchmen, Adrian Veidt is described as being "a little Norman Vincent Peale" after a vague explanation of how he achieved success in wealth and fitness.
Peale was profiled in an episode (March 16, 2016) of the CNN series Race for the White House, entitled "John F. Kennedy vs. Richard Nixon".
In Too Much and Never Enough, Mary L. Trump described Peale as a charlatan.

Selected works

The Positive Power of Jesus Christ (1980)
Stay Alive All Your Life (1957)
Why Some Positive Thinkers Get Powerful Results (1987).
The Power of Positive Thinking, Ballantine Books; Reissue edition (August 1, 1996).
Guide to Confident Living, Ballantine Books; Reissue edition (September 1, 1996).
Six Attitudes for Winners, Tyndale House Publishers; (May 1, 1990).
Positive Thinking Every Day : An Inspiration for Each Day of the Year, Fireside Books; (December 6, 1993).
Positive Imaging, Ballantine Books; Reissue edition (September 1, 1996).
You Can If You Think You Can, Fireside Books; (August 26, 1987).
Thought Conditioners, Foundation for Christian; Reprint edition (December 1, 1989).
In God We Trust: A Positive Faith for Troubled Times, Thomas Nelson Inc; Reprint edition (November 1, 1995).
Norman Vincent Peale's Treasury of Courage and Confidence, Doubleday; (June 1970).
My Favorite Hymns and the Stories Behind Them, HarperCollins; 1st ed edition (September 1, 1994).
The Power of Positive Thinking for Young People, Random House Children's Books (A Division of Random House Group); (December 31, 1955).
The Amazing Results of Positive Thinking, Fireside; Fireside edition (March 12, 2003).
Stay Alive All Your Life, Fawcett Books; Reissue edition (August 1, 1996).
You Can Have God's Help with Daily Problems, FCL Copyright 1956–1980 LOC card #7957646
Faith Is the Answer: A Psychiatrist and a Pastor Discuss Your Problems, Smiley Blanton and Norman Vincent Peale, Kessinger Publishing (March 28, 2007), (10), (13)
Power of the Plus Factor, A Fawcett Crest Book, Published by Ballantine Books, 1987,
This Incredible Century, Peale Center for Christian Living, 1991,
Sin, Sex and Self-Control, 1977, , , Fawcett (December 12, 1977)