It was a surprise to find that my great-great grandmother in southwest Virginia mentored a famous early 20th century Methodist preacher radio broadcaster, R. P. “Fighting Bob” Shuler of Trinity Methodist Church in Los Angeles.
In the 1920s, Shuler competed with fellow radio preacher Aimee Semple McPherson, the flamboyant Pentecostal celebrity whom he often denounced. Shuler’s fame was such that in the 1920s, young Richard Nixon and his brothers were brought to his church by his Methodist father. (Nixon was raised Quaker by his mother.) In 1923, Shuler even spoke at Nixon’s Quaker church in Whittier, California.
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