(May 27, 1902–January 25, 1949), was the Chaplain of the U.S. Senate, 1947–49. He emigrated from Scotland, 1927; was ordained a Presbyterian minister, 1931; and became a U.S. citizen in 1938. His life story, based on the biography written by his wife, Catherine Marshall, was made into a major motion-picture by Twentieth-Century Fox, entitled A Man Called Peter, 1955. Catherine Marshall’s novel, Christy, was also made into a CBS television series. U.S. Senate Chaplain Peter Marshall’s son is the well-known author and speaker, Peter Marshall, whose best-selling works include: The Light and the Glory, 1977, and From Sea to Shining Sea, 1986.
On January 13, 1947, U.S. Senate Chaplain Peter Marshall admonished Americans:
The choice before us is plain: Christ or chaos, conviction or compromise, discipline or disintegration. I am rather tired of hearing about our rights and privileges as American citizens. The time is come—it is now—when we ought to hear about the duties and responsibilities of our citizenship. America’s future depends upon her accepting and demonstrating God’s government.3539
On May 22, 1947, during the Eightieth Congress, Senate Chaplain Peter Marshall offered the prayer:
God of our fathers, give unto us, thy servants, a true appreciation of our heritage, of great men and great deeds in the past, but let us not be intimidated by feelings of our own inadequacies for this troubled hour.
Remind us that the God they worshipped, and by whose help they laid the foundations of our Nation, is still able to help us uphold what they bequeathed and give it meaning … 3540
On July 3, 1947, Peter Marshall opened the Eightieth Congress with the prayer:
God of our Fathers, whose Almighty hand hath made and preserved our Nation, grant that our people may understand what it is they celebrate tomorrow.
May they remember how bitterly our freedom was won, the down payment that was made for it, the installments that have been made since this Republic was born, and the price that must be paid for our liberty.
May freedom be seen not as the right to do as we please but as the opportunity to please to do what is right.
May it be ever understood that our liberty is under God and can be found nowhere else.
May our faith be something that is not merely stamped upon our coins, but expressed in our lives.
Let us, as a nation, be not afraid of standing alone for the rights of men, since we were born that way, as the only nation on earth that came into being “for the glory of God and the advancement of the Christian faith.”
We know that we shall be true to the Pilgrim dream when we are true to the God they worshiped.
To the extent that America honors Thee, wilt Thou bless America, and keep her true as Thou hast kept her free, and make her good as Thou hast made her rich. Amen.3541
In the U.S. Congress, June 11, 1948, Senate Chaplain Peter Marshall opened with the prayer:
Help us, our Father, to show other nations an America to imitate … the America that loves fair play, honest dealing, straight talk, real freedom and faith in God.3542