Robert P. Shuler

Robert P. Shuler
Rev. Robert Pierce Shuler, Sr, known as "Fighting Bob"
Born	August 4, 1880 Tennessee
Died	September 1965 (Aged 85)
Nationality	American
Occupation	Pastor, evangelist
Known for	Radio broadcasting, U.S. Senate candidacy

Robert Pierce "Fighting Bob" Shuler, Sr. (1880 – September 11, 1965), was an American evangelist and political figure. His radio broadcasts from his Southern Methodist church in Los Angeles, California, during the 1920s and early 1930s attracted a large audience and also drew controversy with his attacks on politicians, police officials, Catholics, Jews and African Americans. In 1931, the Federal Radio Commission revoked Shuler's broadcast license. He ran for the United States Senate in 1932 on the Prohibition Party ticket and attracted more than 500,000 votes.

Born in a log cabin in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Tennessee, Shuler graduated from Emory and Henry College in 1903 and was ordained in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. He served as a pastor at churches in Virginia, Tennessee and Texas before moving west to California.

It was in California that Shuler gained fame as the fiery pastor of Trinity Methodist Church, located at 1201 S. Flower St. in Downtown Los Angeles, from 1920 until 1953. Shuler acquired a wide following for his sermons and broadcasts in which he "thundered weekly against civic and moral evils," including gamblers, bootleggers, grafters, and above all corrupt politicians and police officials. From 1926-1932, Shuler operated radio station KGEF, which he said stood for "Keep God Ever First." He built the radio station at the site of Trinity Methodist Church, using funds donated by Methodist philanthropist Lizzie Glide, who also funded San Francisco's famous Glide Memorial Church. Shuler also published a magazine under the name "Bob Shuler's Magazine." At his peak, Shuler's congregation had 5,000 members, and his radio broadcasts reportedly had an audience of 600,000 Southern Californians and were heard from Mexico to Canada.

American Mercury wrote that Shuler had "built up the greatest political and social power ever wielded by a man of God since the days of Savonarola in Florence." One historical account described Shuler's influence as follows: