Clergy

P. James Roosevelt discusses the ministerial work of Reverend Norman Vincent Peale and his wife Ruth Stafford Peale. Roosevelt notes that Reverend Peale is the first minister to be awarded the Theodore Roosevelt Distinguished Service Medal. Roosevelt highlights the four churches which Peale has served as minister and cites statistics about his Foundation For Christian Living and his magazine Guideposts. Roosevelt concludes by quoting four passages each from Peale and Theodore Roosevelt and noting that each used a bully pulpit to preach much the same message.

A photograph of Peale, P. James Roosevelt, and William Davison Johnston, President of the Theodore Roosevelt Association, accompanies the text.  

Biographies of the two winners of the 1985 Theodore Roosevelt Distinguished Service Medal, Reverend Norman Vincent Peale and Brigadier General Chuck Yeager. The biography of Peale covers his postings as a  minister, his publishing and and business ventures with his wife, and his various radio programs. It notes his father’s support of Theodore Roosevelt and lists some of the many awards he has been granted. The biography of Yeager reviews his record as a combat pilot, lists his leadership roles in the United States Air Force, and notes his record breaking achievements as a test pilot, including establishing a new record on his flight to New York for the awards dinner. It also concludes with a catalog of the various awards he has been given.

A photograph of Peale sitting at a desk and a photograph of Yeager standing in front of a F-20 Tigershark fighter aircraft supplement the text. 

Theodore Roosevelt supports the movement to offer a pension to clergymen. Roosevelt believes that the family life of clergymen offers a fine example to the American people.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1916-05-08

A minister with a “Bible” in his coat pocket rides a bicycle, in a race with another minister who is not far behind. A husband and wife are observing from a sidewalk in the background. Caption: Mrs. Goodwin–Dear me! there goes our pastor on his wheel; how devoted he is to his charge! He can’t get to church quick enough! / Mr. Goodwin–Oh, that isn’t it; he has a race on with old Deacon Aimen!

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1896-01-08

Uncle Sam knocks the heads of two men together, a masked man on the left holding papers labeled “A.P.A. Un-American Intolerance” and, on the right, a member of the clergy holding papers labeled “Greed for Public School Funds.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1894-11-07

Puck hands out placards with the saying, “Do unto others whatsoever thou wilt that others shall do unto thee,” which he claims as the “best religion in existence,” to many members of the clergy as they arrive at the entrance to the “Great World’s Fair Parliament of Religions.” Caption: Puck – Here’s the best religion in existence, gentlemen, – don’t waste time in useless discussions, but – call your meeting to order, endorse it, and adjourn. You’ll have more time to see the Fair!

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1893-09-13

The “Rev. Dr. N. Dorser” sits at a table writing testimonials about the quality of various products, such as the “magnificent House Cleaning number” of a magazine, and “Before Using” and “After Using” portraits that illustrate the benefits of taking “Gold Brick Pills.” Caption: Obliging and “disinter[…] endorsement, at the service of every advertiser who applies to him.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1897-04-28

William II, German Emperor, with wings fashioned out of swords, rides on a large cannon being pulled and pushed by members of the clergy. Among the crowd following in the background are two banners that state “Love One Another” and “Come and Be Saved; If You Don’t ….”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1898-01-12

A diminutive man labeled “Latin Races” carries a hefty clergyman on his shoulders.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1899/02/01

The child king Alfonso XIII, as a wooden puppet, is slumped over on the “Throne of Spain” with a clergyman standing next to him. On the walls to the right are portrait paintings of “Charles V, Ferdinand and Isabella, [and] Philip II.” On the left, an arm labeled “Home Riots” reaches through the curtains with a torch to ignite a bomb labeled “Anarchy” next to the throne.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1898-06-08

A clergyman points to a notice labeled “Society’s Divorce Record” that lists “Divorced – Yesterday; Married – Today.” He appeals to a fashionably dressed young woman holding a lorgnette.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1899-07-26

“Newton, Abbott, Briggs, Savage, [and] Adler,” and one man holding a flag that states “Think or be Damned” stand behind a machine gun labeled “History, Archaeology, Evolution, Enlightenment, [and] Geology.” They stand among boxes of ammunition labeled “Scientific Facts, Historical Facts, [and] Rational Religion.” They take aim at a group of clergy on the drawbridge of a castle. The clergymen are labeled “Medieval Dogmatism” and are armed with halberds and a banner that states “Believe or be Damned.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1899-07-19

A member of the clergy, a strict “Sabbatarian,” observes and deplores people engaging in various Sunday activities, including boating and bicycling. In the center vignette, Satan objects to the Sunday outings, too, because they seem “to make people better, instead of worse.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1897-05-26

In a boxing ring are Henry Ward Beecher, Thomas De Witt Talmage, and the “Rev. Dr. Monck” who has knocked them both out at a “Tournament of Sensationalism.” Monck wears a bandana labeled “Holy Healing Power” around his head and his right hand is inscribed “Worth $50,000 a Year.” He has hugely oversized fists. Beecher is slumped against the ropes, with a black eye. Talmage, not wearing boxing gloves, hangs over the ropes.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1883-04-25

A hapless army of clergymen assaults a fortress labeled “Non-Sectarian Institution” around a building labeled “House of Refuge” with a battering ram labeled “Freedom of Worship Bill.” One bishop is carrying a military standard labeled “In hoc signo vinces” (In this sign you will conquer) that shows a ballot box labeled “Irish Vote.” Defending the ramparts are newspaper editors, including Puck. In the middle distance is a building labeled “Public School” and in the background, atop a hill, is a statue labeled “Constitution” that states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1885-04-22

A minister and a “Theater Manager” are crying because of poor attendance at sermons and theater closures due to “Poor Business.” A young boy on roller skates is nearby with a sandwich board that states “Sunday evening sermon by the Rev. Dr. Gums, on the Sin of Roller Skating.” A crowd of people are standing at the entrance to a “Roller-Skating Rink” in the background.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1885-03-18

Members of the clergy sign a document labeled “Declaration of Dependence” and are joined together by long strings of beads that are held by Pope Leo XIII sitting on a chair in the left foreground. Cardinal John McCloskey is sitting at the table where the document is being signed, glaring at the Pope. The American Declaration of Independence, torn and crumpled, lies at his feet. Caption: Made at Cincinnati, on the 19th of March, in the year of the Republic 106, by the Fourth Provincial Council of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1882-04-12

Print shows the “Light of Reason” shining from the upper right, illuminating bust portraits of “Johannes Kepler, I. Kant, Th. Paine, Jefferson, B. de Spinoza, Franklin, Voltaire, E. H. Haeckel, Tyndall, Huxley, [and] Darwin.” The light is blocked by a large umbrella labeled “Bigotry, Supernaturalism, [and] Fanaticism,” behind which are hiding various members of the clergy, including the Pope, Henry Ward Beecher, and T. De Witt Talmage. In the upper left, a vignette shows three female figures around an infant in a crib, with caption “God made Man and Endowed him with Free Will, Memory, and Understanding.” In the lower right is another vignette showing the Pope and other members of the clergy torturing a man, filling him with “Superstition,” with caption, “But it took a Deal of Altering in the Man before he could be made a ‘Good Citizen’.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1882-03-08

Theodore Roosevelt, looking somewhat devilish, appears as a minister standing in a pool labeled “Teddyism,” attempting to pull the Republican elephant in for an immersion baptism. A small “Third-Party Choir” stands behind him composed of “Perkins, Munsey, Pinchot, [and] Garfield.” President Taft and others labeled “Sherman, Barnes, Lodge, Penrose, Crane, Root, [and] McKinley” are holding the elephant back. Crowds of people watch from a boardwalk, wharf, and a nearby pavilion. Caption: Third-Party Choir — “And sinners bathed beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1912-08-07

On the left, a woman walks on a street in the “Red Light District.” A policeman stands on the corner watching her. On the right, several men sit in chairs in front of place-markers on the wall that describe each person: “Orator and Politician. Will sell myself to the highest bidder,” “Editorial Writer. Views that I don’t believe in. For sale,” “College Professor. Education directed to please those who have the money,” “Cartoonist for sale to any party (Depending on the price),” “Minister. Sermons to please those who pay the pew rent,” and a “Law[yer].” Caption: Which is the greater evil – the woman of the streets or these mental prostitutes?

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1911-12-20