Mangesh Hattikudur
Richard Nixon and 12 Other Celebrity Quakers
by Mangesh Hattikudur - January 2, 2008 - 2:12 PM

Being a product of the Delaware school system, I can’t help but love Quakers. My middle and junior high schools were located on a Meeting House Lane. Pacifism, abolitionism and tolerance have always seemed like good ideas to me. And I’m a total sucker for Quaker Oats packaging. But the fact is, aside from William Penn and Betsy Ross, I really don’t know that many famous Quakers. So I decided to look ‘em up. Here’s what I found…

1. Richard Nixon

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With all the nation making such a big deal about Kennedy being a Catholic, it’s interesting to note that old Milhous Nixon was born and raised Quaker. According to the web, his strict mother instilled conservative Quaker values in him (no swearing, drinking or dancing). When he couldn’t afford to go to Harvard (despite earning a scholarship there), he attended Whitter- a local Quaker college where he became class President, started a frat, practiced with the football team, and even spent his Sundays teaching Sunday school to little tykes. The most interesting part of his faith to me, though, isn’t that the non-violent doctrine conflicted with his personal views on Vietnam, but rather that his straightlaced upbringing hindered his ability to communicate as a family lawyer. According to wikipedia, “He later wrote that family law cases caused him particular discomfort, since his reticent Quaker upbringing was severely at odds with the idea of discussing intimate marital details with strangers.”

2. Daniel Boone

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American settler, hunter, and folk hero Daniel Boone was born and raised Quaker. In fact, his family emigrated to the U.S. from England partially for that reason. What’s more interesting, however, is why the Boone family didn’t stay within the fold. Apparently, Danny’s sister Sarah made waves in the community when she married a non-Quaker. That, in itself, might not have caused a controversy. The fact that she was visibly pregnant at the time did. The family publicly apologized for their daughter’s behavior. But after their son Israel also married a non-Quaker, the Boone’s became a famiglia non grata and up and moved to Carolina.

3. Joan Baez

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If you’re wondering how folk singer Joan Baez’s religion might have played into her development as a political activist, you might want to take a look at her father’s life choices. Albert Baez converted to Quakerism when Joan was a youngster, and despite being a co-inventor of the X-ray microscope and a well-known physicist, he refused to work on the atomic bomb project in Los Alamos, and also turned down lucrative job offers from defense contractors during the Cold War.

4. John Cadbury

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If you love Cadbury’s chocolates, you definitely owe a note of thanks to the Society of Friends. As a young man, Cadbury hoped to pursue a career in medicine or law. But because Quakers were discriminated against by all of the major universities at the time, John decided to focus on business. Believing that alcohol only exacerbated society’s ills, Cadbury decided to focus on a happy alternative: chocolate and drinking cocoas. In addition to his views on temperance, Cadbury was also a bit of an activist. He led a campaign to stop the use of boys as chimney sweeps, and he founded an organization to prevent animal cruelty.

5. James Dean

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Sent off to be raised by his father’s sister in Fairmont, Indiana, James Dean was raised Quaker. And though the faith may not have played the biggest role in his life or career (there are tales that it was through befriending a Methodist reverend that he was encouraged to pursue his loves of bullfighting, car racing and theater), today he’s buried in a Quaker cemetery.

6. Edward R. Murrow

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Born in North Carolina to Quaker parents. Amazingly, for the first 6 years of his life, the famed reporter grew up in a log cabin without plumbing or electricity. His parents, who farmed for a living, made only a few hundred dollars a year, at least until they picked up and moved to Washington state.

7. Piers Anthony

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While agnostic today, best-selling science fiction author Piers Anthony grew up in a fairly devout family. During the Spanish Civil War his parents left young Piers and his sister to their grandparents care, and then went to “fight” in Spain. In his own words, “my parents were helping to keep those devastated children alive, by importing food and milk and feeding them on a regular basis. It was worthy work, and I don’t fault it, but there was a personal cost.”

8. Judi Dench

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The award-winning actress converted to Quakerism after attending a Friends school. According to Quakernet, she was first attracted to the faith because she loved the school uniforms.

9. Annie Oakley

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The sharp-shooting female who was rumored to split playing cards edge-wise, then shoot through them a few times before they hit the ground, grew up a dirt-poor Quaker. In fact, her early skill with the gun came from having to hunt food for her impoverished family.

10. Bonnie Raitt

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In her own words, “I grew up… in a Quaker family, and for me being Quaker was a political calling rather than a religious one.”

11. Joseph Lister

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The British surgeon who promoted cleanliness and sterility (and for whom Listerine mouthwash is named) grew up in a wealthy Quaker family. Of course, this didn’t stop him from being discriminated against. In fact, Lister studied medicine at the University of London precisely because it was one of the only institutions at the time which accepted Quakers.

12. David Byrne

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According to TalkingHeads.net, the musician to-be was regularly encouraged by his mother’s “tolerant Quaker philosophies.” That, along with the constant drone of Scottish and American folk music in the house, supposedly played a large role in his eventual career choice.

13. Cassius Coolidge

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I really only included “Cash” Coolidge because I have a fondness for his Dogs Playing Poker prints (one used to hang over my puppy’s sleeping cushion in my old house). Still, it’s pretty interesting to know that the painter was born to abolitionist Quakers in upstate New York, and that he’s oft-credited with creating Comic Foregrounds, or those novelty photo scenes you pay $2 to stick your head into, to make your body look muscle-bound at the beach.

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Comments (38)

  1. Did you go to Wilmington Friends, perhaps? My little brother goes there.

    posted by Laura on 1-2-2008 at 2:27 pm

  2. Nope, but some of the kids I played with in a band did. I went to a public school (A. I. duPont)…

    posted by Mangesh on 1-2-2008 at 2:29 pm

  3. You DO know that isn’t a picture of Edward R. Murrow, right? That’s David Straithairn PLAYING Murrow in “Good Night And Good Luck”

    posted by Brian on 1-2-2008 at 2:46 pm

  4. Were there no pictures of the real Edward R. Murrow?

    posted by skook on 1-2-2008 at 2:48 pm

  5. I too am a product of the Delaware school system. However in Slower Lower Delaware from which I hail, we have a lot of Mennonites, I don’t recall having met a Quaker in all of my years there.

    posted by QuinO on 1-2-2008 at 3:25 pm

  6. Nixon wasn’t even the first Quaker president. Herbert Hoover was.

    posted by Liz on 1-2-2008 at 4:13 pm

  7. If Edward R. Murrow was a Quaker, why does this post have a picture of David Strathairn in his place? I know he played Murrow, but it’s important to have a picture of the man, not someone who played him. Why not replace Richard Nixon with Anthony Hopkins?

    posted by Robert D. on 1-2-2008 at 4:37 pm

  8. Yup… I couldn’t find a good large pic of the real Ed Murrow, so I had that one up as a placehold. The one now is authentic though… also, Liz: I realize Nixon wasn’t the first Quaker president, but I was so stunned to learn of his faith that it actually spurred the whole post.

    posted by Mangesh on 1-2-2008 at 5:00 pm

  9. I must point out, James Dean was born in Fairmount, not Fairmont.

    No, I don’t like James Dean, but yes, I did grow up in the same county and abhor the “James Dean Festival”. Yes, it does exist.

    posted by Evan on 1-2-2008 at 6:48 pm

  10. QuinO, here’s to slower lower Delaware. How low did you go? Can’t get much lower than my town without falling into Maryland. I too never heard of the Quakers until Wilmington Friends school kicked our butts in field hockey State semi-finals. Then I married a Friends alum, and admire much about the Quaker faith. Who knew RMN was a Quaker! interesting article.

    posted by Mel on 1-2-2008 at 7:04 pm

  11. While not being famous, mention should be made of the Quakers, many from Canada, who helped in the Civil Rights Movement. I believe many also became medics in WWII.

    posted by gus on 1-2-2008 at 8:23 pm

  12. I’m from 11 miles lower than lower Delaware.
    I really enjoyed this article. I knew about Nixon, but most of the others were news to me.
    My favorite Quaker is author Richard Foster. And he’s one of my very favorite authors.

    posted by Cathy on 1-2-2008 at 8:45 pm

  13. I have a soft spot for Quakers…in 1977 we moved to a little Quaker-founded town called “Friendswood”…(about 30 miles from the Galveston coast)…
    the Friends church is still quite large and active in the community…

    posted by donner on 1-2-2008 at 8:57 pm

  14. Nice little list there. Almost all of them were a surprise to me, except RMN. Minor nit, you’re missing a T on Bonnie Raitt.

    posted by Wiley on 1-2-2008 at 10:17 pm

  15. Mel, Seaford to be exact. I was there for roughly 13 years. You? I’m thinking Delmar?

    posted by QuinO on 1-3-2008 at 7:28 am

  16. i went to whittier. i had no idea nixon had gone there until i saw his memorial fountain (a very lackluster square pool). sadly, the school is no longer quaker affiliated.. and i hear they’re going to turn the old chapel into a student union.

    posted by tami on 1-3-2008 at 8:54 am

  17. Cool post. “Celebrity Quakers” sounds like a band name.

    posted by kate on 1-3-2008 at 8:57 am

  18. What a great list. As a Quaker I enjoyed hearing about Quakers I hadn’t known about before. As an artist I especially like Hicks who painted the “Peaceable Kingdom.” An important thing to know is that most Quakers were appalled by RMN’s presidency as he violated almost every tenent of our faith, the major one being the Peace Testimony. He didn’t do very well with the Truthfulness Testimony, either. In all his years in office he attended the Washington’s Friends Meeting only once.

    posted by Judith on 1-3-2008 at 9:01 am

  19. Dave Matthews was also raised in a Quaker household.

    posted by Erika on 1-3-2008 at 5:04 pm

  20. Sorry to bust your Delaware bubble, but I’m from southeastern Pennsylvania, home of America’s most famous Quaker. I worked for several summers at the country estate of William Penn and learned a lot about Quakers there. In my town, there is a Quaker meeting house and a friends school where I went to summer camp. We started every summer with a Quaker-style “Social Contract.”
    Also, Edward Hicks, painter of “Peaceable Kingdom” lived and is buried in my town, and he was a Quaker. That’s not very surprising, though.

    posted by leofishy on 1-3-2008 at 8:34 pm

  21. Among Friends, we remember Nixon being closer to Billy Graham than to our Testimonies – leading many of us to refer to him as a “Graham Quaker!”

    Great list – I had no idea most of those folks were Quakes – THANKS!

    posted by Dion Lerman on 1-11-2008 at 9:17 am

  22. Can’t forget Smedley Butler. He was a general in the Marine Corp at the same time his father was the chair of the senate armed services committeee in the early 1900′s… 1915 or so. When he left the marines, he blew the lid off the role of the military in Central America: “we were hired gangsters for United Fruit” Their is an excellent book about him called “Maverick Marine”. He was a Quaker.

    posted by aine on 1-13-2008 at 11:12 am

  23. While not a Quaker myself, I went to a Quaker school in Indiana, Earlham College. School legend had it that our sports teams’ names used to be the “Fighting Quakers” until that oxymoron was pointed out. (Now they are the “Hustling Quakers”).

    Also, a common cheer at sporting events went “Fight, fight, inner light, kill, Quakers, kill!” I guess someone had a sens of humor.

    posted by Jennifer on 1-30-2008 at 3:47 pm

  24. Quakers

    Don’t forget Cheryl Teigs, parents Quakers , fond memories of her in High School German Class and bragging rights later. Dated once so she could make her boy friend mad.

    posted by Richard on 1-30-2008 at 7:43 pm

  25. I grew up in Delaware (and went to William Penn High School whose fight song made a ton of allusions to war), and had to move to Minnesota to find Quakerism.

    I’m shocked that Susan B. Anthony and Herbert Hoover aren’t on the list. Love that David Byrne and Annie Oakley are.

    I have it on good authority that the secret service woke up the Washington DC Meetinghouse caretakers in the middle of the night so that Richard Nixon could go there to pray the night before his lies were revealed.

    Jeanne

    posted by Jeanne on 1-31-2008 at 6:59 pm

  26. Grew up in Claymont, Delaware. Quakers, Amish and the Mennonites are all a stone’s throw away.

    posted by Kevin on 5-16-2008 at 12:09 am

  27. Hi Mangesh!

    I would like to know were you have found the painting of Josph Lister? Do you know who have done it? I have lookt up some books about Joseph Lister but have not found the picture.

    I am working at a book publishing company in Sweden and we think the painting are so cool we would like to have it in a book.

    Best Regards
    Emma

    posted by Emma on 6-19-2008 at 7:38 am

  28. I’m from Sussex County, and it’s always great to see a Delawarean ‘fess up his roots!

    posted by Any Given Tuesday on 7-1-2008 at 10:06 am

  29. I’m a Wilmington (now Bear) girl! St. Mark’s class of 99! I went to my first Quaker funeral (well, Quaker anything) a few months ago. It was one of the most touching ceremonies I’ve ever been to.

    posted by Shannon on 7-14-2008 at 3:21 pm

  30. I’m a Wilmington (now Bear) girl! St. Mark’s class of 99! I went to my first Quaker funeral (well, Quaker anything) a few months ago. It was one of the most touching ceremonies I’ve ever been to. It almost made me want to convert.

    posted by Shannon on 7-14-2008 at 3:22 pm

  31. Alice Paul, the American suffragist, was also a Quaker.

    posted by Carol on 9-5-2008 at 10:33 am

  32. that is edward r. morrow

    posted by bob on 10-7-2008 at 12:56 pm

  33. What the hell is a Quaker anyway? Is that like a Free Mason, or Stonecutter?

    posted by ivan on 10-15-2008 at 10:05 pm

  34. Quakers was a derogatory term for the ‘Society of FRIENDS’. A religious sect of Christianity that eshewed pomp and circumstance such as the Catholics and Epicopalians practised. They don’t have pastors, per se. They were all equal, one of the reasons for their anti-slavery work. They were also called ‘plain people’ for their not wearing fussy clothes or jewelry. They were called Quakers because of their being lifted by the Holy Spirit. They were allowed to wear clothes made of good cloth, but cut in a plain style. I am a decendant of Friends who left England to practice their religion in the earliest years of what became the US. I am related to Richard Nixon, Bonnie Raitt and Cheryl Tiegs.

    posted by sue on 11-30-2008 at 1:29 am

  35. That IS Edward R. Murrow, you idiots!!

    posted by James on 2-9-2009 at 12:42 pm

  36. I’m personally a product of New Garden Friends School in Greensboro, NC, and it rocked the (meeting)house. The mascot of Guilford college (next to the school) was the Fighting Quaker. Qute a twisted sense of humor.
    Wait, wasn’t there another Quaker president? I think he was James Madison.

    posted by Laura H on 7-4-2009 at 6:33 pm

  37. Having been convinced and married under the care of the Wilmington Monthly Meeting of Friends, I found both the article and its author’s motivation for writing it interesting. It’s always tricky to explain Quakerism to the outside world when most of them only know of Richard Nixon. Certainly not a shining example …

    Thanks!

    posted by Kristen on 7-8-2009 at 10:31 am

  38. Yeah, Kristen, that’s what I was thinking!

    posted by Hyacinth on 9-29-2009 at 4:22 pm

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