Norman Vincent Peale was born in 1898 in Bowersville, Ohio to Charles Clifford and Anna DeLaney Peale. His father was a physician and Methodist minister. The Peale family moved to Bellefontaine in 1913 when his father became the minister of the First Methodist Church.
Soon after Rev. Peale moved to Bellefontaine, he bought a new REO car and faced opposition from a few of the church members about his purchase. He had been saving money for a car for a long time and some members of the congregation felt he was misusing his salary from the church. Many thought he should walk or drive a buggy.
The chief opposition to the new minister buying a car came from two elderly brothers who owned a prosperous grocery store on Main St. Rev. Peale ignored their comments and proudly drove his car and occasionally let his teenage sons, Norman and Bob, drive it. Norman Peale enjoyed driving and racing his father’s car up and down the streets of Bellefontaine. When he drove past the brother’s store, he would “open the cutout with a roar that rattled the windows and caused canned goods to shake on the shelves.”
While attending Bellefontaine High School, Peale was in the glee Club, on the debate team and a member of the Kappa Sigma Pi fraternity. Before he entered college, Peale tried his hand at selling pots and pans door to door. He soon realized this was not what he wanted to do and enrolled at Ohio Wesleyan University and received his degree in 1920.
Peale then worked as a journalist for a couple years before deciding to become a minister. He was ordained in the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1922 and enrolled in the Boston University School of Theology. There he earned a Bachelor of Sacred Theology degree and a Master of Arts in Social Ethics degree in 1924. He was assigned to a small congregation in Brooklyn, NY where the membership increased from 40 to 900 during the three years he was there.
Dr. Peale moved to the University Methodist Church in Syracuse, NY in 1927 and once again, the congregation grew, and he had his own radio program. He married Ruth Stafford in June 1930.
In 1932, Dr. Peale received a frantic call from the Marble Collegiate Church in New York City. Their pastor had become very ill, and they were desperately trying to find a replacement. He agreed to help them, and they offered him the pastorship at the church. Dr. Peale then changed his denominational affiliation to the Reformed Church of America so he could accept their offer.
Dr. Peale started the radio program, The Art of Living, in 1935 which lasted 54 years. His first book, The Art of Living, was published in 1937. Dr. Peale and his wife, Ruth, founded Guideposts magazine, a non-denominational magazine with inspirational stories and articles about the power of positive thinking in 1945. It has been one of the most popular religious magazines of all time.
His most well-known book The Power of Positive Thinking was published in 1952 and remains in print. It has been translated into more than a dozen languages and stayed on the New York Times bestseller list for 186 consecutive weeks. Millions of copies have been sold world-wide.
From 1952-1968, Dr. Peale and Ruth hosted a television program called “What’s Your Trouble?” where the Peales read letters from viewers and offered advice and encouragement.
In 1957, Dr. Peale appeared as a Mystery Guest on the popular television show “What’s My Line”. Panelist Arlene Francis, who later contributed a story to Guideposts magazine, guessed Dr. Peale’s identity in relatively short order. United Artists made a movie about the life of Dr. Peale titled “One Man’s Way” in 1964. Don Murray was cast as Norman Vincent Peale in the movie.
Dr. Peale occasionally returned to Bellefontaine, and in 1961 he delivered the Bellefontaine High School commencement address. In 1966, he delivered a sermon at the Bellefontaine First Methodist Church’s 150th anniversary celebration. His father, Rev. Charles Clifford Peale, was pastor at the church from 1913 to 1917.
In 1968, Dr. Peale officiated the wedding of Julie Nixon and David Eisenhower at Marble Collegiate Church in New York City. In 1984, President Ronald Reagan awarded Dr. Pearle the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his contribution in the field of theology.
Dr. Peale was affiliated with Marble Collegiate Church for 52 years, growing the church’s membership from 300 to over 3,000 during his years there. He wrote newspaper columns, had radio, and TV shows, and authored 46 books.
On May 31, 1998, Marble Collegiate marked the 100th anniversary of Dr. Peale’s birth by erecting a life-sized bronze statue of him, sculpted by John M. Soderberg, outside the church.
Norman Vincent Peale touched millions of people with his Power of Positive Thinking teachings. His main theme was "Do the best you can with what you have, and you'll go far."
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