Aimee Semple McPherson

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Aimee Semple McPherson

McPherson circa 1920
Born Aimee Elizabeth Kennedy
October 9, 1890(1890-10-09)
Salford, Ontario
Died September 27, 1944 (aged 53)
Oakland, California
Cause of death Barbituate overdose
Burial place Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery
Known for International Church of the Foursquare Gospel
Spouse Robert James Semple
Harold Stewart McPherson
Children Roberta Star Semple
Rolf McPherson
Parents James Morgan Kennedy
Mildred Ona Pearce

Aimee Semple McPherson (October 9, 1890 – September 27, 1944), also known as "Sister Aimee" or "Sister," was a Canadian-born evangelist and media sensation in the 1920s and 1930s; she was also the founder of the Foursquare Church. [1] She was a pioneer in the use of modern media, especially radio, to create a form of religion that drew heavily on the appeal of popular entertainment.

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[edit] Early life

McPherson was born Aimee Elizabeth Kennedy in Salford, Ontario, Canada, the daughter of James Morgan Kennedy, a widower and devout Methodist, and Mildred Ona Pearce, 36 years his junior, who had been hired to nurse his first wife during her terminal illness. The age difference had caused a scandal in their small Southwestern Ontario community, prompting the couple to elope to the nearby American state of Michigan.

Her mother had been orphaned at an early age, and raised by a couple who worked with the Salvation Army. As a result, young Aimee was raised in an atmosphere of strong Christian beliefs. As a teenager, however, she became an avowed agnostic, and began her public speaking career at the age of 13 in this context, writing letters to the newspaper defending evolution and debating local clergy.

[edit] Career

Robert and Aimee Semple, 1910
Robert and Aimee Semple, 1910

[edit] Evangelical beginnings

In December 1907, she met her first husband Robert James Semple, a Pentecostal missionary from Ireland, while attending a revival meeting at the urging of her father. After her conversion and a short courtship, they were married on August 12, 1908.

Shortly thereafter, the two embarked on an evangelistic tour, first to Europe and then to China, where they arrived in June 1910. Shortly after they disembarked in Hong Kong, however, they both contracted dysentery. Robert Semple died of the disease on August 19, 1910. Aimee Semple recovered and gave birth to a daughter, Roberta Star Semple, on September 17, after which she returned to the United States. Roberta died in January 2007.

Aimee Semple's mother "Minnie" had, in the footsteps of her foster parents, remained active with the Salvation Army, and after a short recuperation, Semple joined her in this work. While so occupied in New York, she met her second husband, Harold Stewart McPherson, an accountant. They were married on May 5, 1912, and they had a son, Rolf Potter Kennedy McPherson, born March 23, 1913.

After the birth of her son, McPherson suffered from postpartum depression and several serious health issues. She tried to settle down to a quieter home-life, but her personal call to Christian service remained constant. While in her sickbed after her second operation within two years, she recommitted herself to what she felt was God's call. Soon thereafter, her health improved. After this near-death experience in 1913, she embarked upon a preaching career in Canada and the United States. In keeping with the promise to God made in her illness, she had left home by June of 1915 and began evangelizing and holding tent revivals, first by traveling up and down the eastern part of the United States, then expanding to other parts of the country.

Her revivals were often standing room only; on one occasion she met in a boxing ring, but had to hold her meetings before and after the boxing match. (According to the PBS-TV American Experience documentary "Sister Aimee," she did, however, walk around during the match with a sign inviting the crowd to attend her service after the match and "knock out the Devil.") Once in San Diego, the National Guard had to be brought in to control the crowd of over 30,000 people. People would often stand in line and wait many hours for the next service to begin in order to be assured a seat.

The "Gospel Car", 1918
The "Gospel Car", 1918

In 1916, in the company of her mother Mildred Kennedy, she made a tour through the southern United States. in her "Gospel Car", a 1912 Packard touring car with religious slogans painted on the side; standing in the back seat of the convertible, she would give sermons through a megaphone. On the road between sermons, she would sit in the back seat typing sermons and other religious materials. By 1917 she had started her own newspaper, named The Bridal Call, for which she wrote many of the articles. Although her husband initially made efforts to join her on her religious travels, he soon became frustrated with the situation, and by 1918 had filed for separation. His petition for divorce, citing abandonment, was granted in 1921.

[edit] International Church of the Foursquare Gospel

McPherson spent several years, from 1918 to 1922 as an itinerant Pentecostal preacher. Weary of constant traveling and having no place to raise a family, she eventually settled in Los Angeles. This was to be her base of operation. There she maintained both a home and a church. For several years she continued to travel and raise money for the construction of a large, domed church building in the Echo Park area of Los Angeles, named Angelus Temple. The church was eventually built, and dedicated on January 1, 1923. The church had a seating capacity of 5,300 people and was filled to capacity three times each day, seven days a week. In the beginning, McPherson preached every service. The church eventually evolved into its own denomination, called the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel. The church became noted for its community services, particularly during the Great Depression.

McPherson was famous both inside and outside of religious circles. Every city where services were held usually had civic leaders in attendance, as well as pastors representing the local churches of many denominations. She made sure that Angelus Temple was represented in local parades and entered floats into the famous Rose Parade in Pasadena. Her illustrated sermons attracted people from the entertainment industry, looking to see a "show" that rivaled what Hollywood had to offer. These famous stage productions drew people who would never have thought to enter a church, and then presented them with her interpretation of the message of salvation. McPherson believed that the Gospel was to be presented at every opportunity, and used worldly means at her disposal to present it to as many people as possible. Her sermons, unlike other contemporaries, e.g. Billy Sunday, were not the usual fire-and-brimstone messages, but were based around a more friendly interpretation of the Christian texts. She was also very skillful at fundraising. Collections were taken at every meeting, often with the admonishment of "no coins, please". When the $1.5 million Angelus Temple opened its doors, construction was already entirely paid for through private donations.

Since Pentecostalism was not popular in the U.S. during the 1920s she avoided the label, but she was heavily influenced by this faith, incorporating demonstrations of speaking-in-tongues and faith healing into her sermons, and keeping a museum of crutches, wheelchairs and other paraphernalia. She was also strongly influenced by the Salvation Army: in a campaign to spread the church nationwide, she adopted a theme of "lighthouses" for the satellite churches, referring to the parent church as the "Salvation Navy."Always seeking publicity, McPherson continued publishing the weekly Foursquare Crusader and a monthly magazine dubbed Bridal Call. She also began broadcasting on radio in its infancy in the early '20s. McPherson was the first woman in history to preach a radio sermon, and with the opening of Foursquare Gospel-owned KFSG (now KXOL) on February 6, 1924, she also became the first woman to be granted a broadcast license by the Federal Radio Commission (which became the Federal Communications Commission in 1934).

Angelus Temple in Echo Park. Notice the radio towers.
Angelus Temple in Echo Park. Notice the radio towers.

McPherson is also credited with integrating her tent meetings and church services. She broke down racial barriers such that one time at Angelus Temple, some Ku Klux Klan members were in attendance, but after the service, many of their hoods and robes were found thrown on the ground in nearby Echo Park. She is also credited with helping many of the Hispanic ministries in Los Angeles get started, and even had a large Gypsy following, after the wife of a Gypsy chief and the chief himself had been healed in a Denver revival meeting.

In 1925, the license for KFSG was suspended by the Commerce Department for deviating from its assigned frequency. McPherson received several death threats in 1925, and an alleged plot to kidnap her was foiled in September of that year, thus setting the stage for the episode for which she is perhaps best known.

[edit] Reported abduction

On May 18, 1926, McPherson went to Ocean Park Beach, north of Venice Beach, with her secretary, to go swimming. Soon after arrival, McPherson disappeared. It was generally assumed at the time that she had drowned.

According to PBS's American Experience, McPherson was scheduled to hold a service on the very day she vanished; McPherson's mother appeared and preached at the service in her place, and at the end announced, "Sister is with Jesus," sending parishioners into a tearful frenzy. Mourners crowded Venice Beach, and the commotion sparked days-long media coverage of the event, fueled in part by William Randolph Hearst's Los Angeles Examiner, and even including a poem by Upton Sinclair commemorating the "tragedy." Daily updates appeared in newspapers across the country; parishioners held day-and-night seaside vigils. A futile search for the body resulted in one parishioner drowning and another diver dying from exposure.

At about the same time, Kenneth G. Ormiston, engineer for KFSG, also disappeared. According to American Experience, some believed McPherson and Ormiston, a married man with whom McPherson had developed a close friendship and allegedly had been having an affair, had run off together. About a month after the disappearance, McPherson's mother, Minnie Kennedy, received a ransom note, signed by "The Avengers", which demanded a half million dollars to ensure kidnappers would not sell McPherson into "white slavery". Kennedy later said she tossed the letter away, believing her daughter to be dead.

After 35 days (on June 23), McPherson stumbled out of the desert in Agua Prieta, Sonora, a Mexican town just across the border from Douglas, Arizona. She claimed that she had been kidnapped, drugged, tortured, and held for ransom in a shack in Mexico, then had escaped and walked through the desert for about 13 hours to freedom.

Several problems were found with McPherson's story. Her shoes showed no evidence of a 13-hour walk; indeed, they had grass stains on them after a supposed walk through the desert. The shack could not be found. McPherson showed up fully dressed while having disappeared wearing a bathing suit, and was wearing a watch given to her by her mother, which she had not taken on her swimming trip. A grand jury convened on July 8 to investigate the matter, but adjourned 12 days later citing lack of evidence to proceed. However, several witnesses then came forward stating that they had seen McPherson and Ormiston at various hotels over the 32-day period.

The grand jury re-convened on August 3 and received further testimony, corroborated by documents from hotels in McPherson's handwriting. McPherson steadfastly stuck to her story that she was approached by a young couple at the beach who had asked her to come over and pray for their sick child, and that she was then shoved into a car and drugged with chloroform. However, when she was not forthcoming with answers regarding her relationship with Ormiston (who was recently estranged from his wife), Judge Samuel Blake charged McPherson and her mother with obstruction of justice on November 3.

Theories and innuendo abounded: she had run off with a lover; she had had an abortion; she was recovering from plastic surgery; she had staged the whole thing as a publicity stunt. No satisfactory answer, though, was ever reached, and soon after the Examiner erroneously reported that Los Angeles district attorney Asa Keyes had dropped all charges, Keyes decided to do exactly that on January 10, 1927, citing lack of evidence.

The tale inspired a satirical song, "The Ballad of Aimee McPherson", popularized by Pete Seeger. The song explains that the kidnapping story was unlikely because a hotel love nest revealed that "the dents in the mattress fit Aimee's caboose."

[edit] Later life and career

McPherson continued her ministry after the controversy over the alleged abduction diminished, but she fell out of favor with the press. While she and her ministry still received a good deal of publicity, most of it was bad. Additionally, she became involved in power struggles for the church with her mother and daughter. McPherson suffered a nervous breakdown in August 1930.

On September 13, 1931, McPherson married again, this time to an actor and musician, David Hutton. The marriage got off to a rocky start: two days after the wedding, Hutton was sued for alienation of affection by a woman, Hazel St. Pierre, whom he claimed never to have met. He eventually settled the case by paying $5,000 to St. Pierre. While McPherson was away in Europe, she was incensed to discover Hutton was billing himself as "Aimee's man" in his cabaret singing act. The marriage also caused an uproar within the church. The tenets of Foursquare Gospel, which were set up by McPherson herself, stated that no one should remarry while their previous spouse was still alive (which Harold McPherson was at the time). McPherson and Hutton separated in 1933, and divorced on March 1, 1934.

[edit] Death

Aimee Semple McPherson returned to Oakland, California for a series of revivals on September 26, 1944 and was scheduled to preach her popular "Story of My Life" sermon. But when her son went to her hotel room at 10 am the next day, he found her unconscious with pills all around her and a half-empty bottle with additional capsules. She was dead by 11:15 am. The autopsy did not exactly determine the death of Aimee Semple McPherson. She had been taking sleeping pills to help relax after experiencing several health problems including "tropical fever" in 1940's. But the pills in the hotel room were not prescription, but rather Seconal, which is a stronger sedative that no one knew how she got. The coroner said that most likely she died of an accidental overdose which was compounded by kidney failure. Seconal is known to have an hypnotizing effect which could make the person forget they had taken the medication and take more. Thus, it is extremely easy to overdose, which is what most likely happened to Aimee Semple McPherson. [2] There was conjecture of suicide. However, it is generally agreed that the overdose was accidental, as stated in the coroner's report[3].

McPherson is buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California. The Foursquare Gospel church, whose leadership was assumed by McPherson's son Rolf for 44 years after her death, continues worldwide with over two million members, over 90% of whom are outside the United States.

[edit] Works about McPherson

[edit] Books, periodicals, film

[edit] Theater

A production of the musical Saving Aimee, with a book and lyrics by Kathie Lee Gifford and music by David Pomeranz and David Friedman, debuted at the White Plains Performing Arts Center in October 2005 was staged at the Signature Theatre in Arlington, VA in April-May 2007.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Poor Aimee", Time (magazine), Monday, October 22, 1928. Retrieved on 2007-08-21. "Those of the nobility and gentry and middle classes who reflected upon the matter appeared to feel that the Holy Bible still offers a sufficient choice of Gospels. But of course the London mob, the lower classes, rushed to attend the evangelistic First Night of Aimee Semple McPherson." 
  2. ^ Note: In the obituary for her daughter-in-law, the cause of Aimee's death is mentioned: "Lorna McPherson, 82, Of the Angelus Temple.", New York Times, June 18, 1993. Retrieved on 2007-08-21. "The Rev. Lorna Dee McPherson, daughter-in-law of the famed evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson and a former minister of her Angelus Temple, died on June 11 at her home in the Los Feliz area. She was 82. The cause of death was emphysema and asthma, said the Rev. William Chavez, a longtime friend and fellow minister. Known as Sister Lorna Dee to followers, Mrs. McPherson was a former vice president of the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, which included more than 600 congregations and a Bible college. Mrs. McPherson was elected to the post in 1944 when her husband, Rolf K. McPherson, succeeded his mother as president and chief minister of Angelus Temple following her death. She is survived by her husband and a daughter, Kay. Aimee Semple McPherson founded Angelus Temple in the early 1920's, when her brand of fundamentalist Christianity, stressing the "born-again" experience, divine healing and evangelism, was popular in the United States. She died on Sept. 27, 1944, of shock and respiratory failure attributed to an overdose of sleeping pills. ..." 
  3. ^ "Sister Aimee's' Death Is Ruled An Accident", United Press International in The Washington Post, October 14, 1944. Retrieved on 2008-02-22. "Aimee Semple McPherson, famous evangelist who occupied the headlines almost as often as the pulpit, died of shock and respirator failure "from an accidental over-dosage" of sleeping capsules, a coroner's jury decided today." 
  4. ^ a b c Caleb Crain (June 29, 2007). Notebook: Aimee Semple McPherson. Steamboats Are Ruining Everything. Retrieved on 2008-01-06.
  5. ^ Vanity Fair's Cutout Dolls - no. 2. Vanity Fair. Retrieved on 2008-01-06.
  6. ^ American Experience | Sister Aimee | PBS

[edit] External links

[edit] Publications

  • The Second Coming of Christ (1921)
  • The Service of the King (1927)
  • The Story of My Life (1951)
  • This is That (revised 1923)
  • Give Me My Own God (1936)

[edit] Further reading