# Did Phelps Start Out Earlier Than We Thought?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-phelps-start-out-earlier-than-we-thought/412859>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [July 23, 2007, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-phelps-start-out-earlier-than-we-thought/412859 "2007-07-23T17:33:53Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\
**Post date:** [July 23, 2007, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-phelps-start-out-earlier-than-we-thought/412859/1 "2007-07-23T17:33:53Z")

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So, my brother went to the recycling center the other day to drop off some newspapers. While there, he noticed a rather old bundle of newspapers and magazines…like, 1960’s old.

It would seem that someone (we’re guessing someone who recently died and whose family is tossing out his old stuff) was a bit of a Kennedyphile. Newspapers and magazines from the JFK and RFK assassinations, as well as other various events in the lives of the Kennedy clan.

My brother knows I like historic newspapers, so he brought them home for me. And there on Page 5 of the November 24, 1963 edition of the New York Daily News is [this pic](http://www.sirblah.com/photo/view.php?album=Misc&mode=&start=30&pic=Misc043.JPG&picindex=42).

Wonder if the “warning” the guy gave JFK was “Don’t be a fag enabler”?

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**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\
**Post date:** [July 23, 2007, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-phelps-start-out-earlier-than-we-thought/412859/2 "2007-07-23T17:44:22Z")

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Phelps would have been 34. That guy is way older.

Maybe it’s Phelps’ dad.

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**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\
**Post date:** [July 23, 2007, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-phelps-start-out-earlier-than-we-thought/412859/3 "2007-07-23T20:28:05Z")

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Nope, Phelp’s dad had nothing to do with his ministry career. They were estranged early in Fred’s life, almost as soon as he was a legal adult. But there is a picture I once saw, from even earlier, of Phelps doing street preaching while he was at college in California.

Here’s a good article about his life. It was from 1994 I think

[http://cjonline.com/webindepth/phelps/stories/080394\_phelps01.shtml](http://cjonline.com/webindepth/phelps/stories/080394_phelps01.shtml)

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**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\
**Post date:** [July 23, 2007, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-phelps-start-out-earlier-than-we-thought/412859/4 "2007-07-23T20:49:57Z")

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Heh…sorry the title was misleading. I assumed this had nothing to do with Phelps and his clan – I was just struck by how similar this 1963 image is to one we see all the time from the WBC nutter bunch.