Fred Phelps

Fred Phelps was born on November 13, 1929 in Meridian, Mississippi, USA as Frederick Waldron Phelps.

Attended Bob Jones university for two years (1946-1948) before dropping out. He cited racial issues as the reason for his departure; in 1994 Rev. Former college employees told the Topeka Capital Journal that Phelps left after being given an ultimatum that he either seek psychiatric counselling or be expelled.

Part of a failed mission to convert Mormons in Vernal, Utah, with fellow students from Bob Jones University in 1947. After delivering a sermon condeming the Mormon religion, the mission leader was asked a theological question he did not know the answer to; Phelps responded by attacking the man who'd asked the question, resulting in a near riot.

Featured in the June 11, 1951 issue of TIME magazine for his efforts to make kissing in public a criminal felony in Pasadena, California. His crusade came to an end after he was arrested for assaulting a police officer who informed him that he did not have permission to picket at John Muir University.

Father of Fred W. Phelps, Jr (1953), Mark Phelps (c1954), Katherine Phelps-Griffin, Margie Phelps (1956), Shirley Phelps-Roper (1957), Nathan "Nate" Phelps (1958), Jonathan Phelps (1959), Rebekah Phelps-Davis (1961), Elizabeth Phelps (1962), Timothy Phelps (1963), Dortha Olive Bird (c.1964), Rachel Phelps-Hockenbarger (1965), and Abigail Phelps (1968).

In 1968, weighing nearly 300lbs, he was rushed to the hospital after overdosing on a cocktail of barbiturates, amphetamines, and alcohol. He remained in a coma for nearly a week; upon release from the hospital he placed himself on a stringent liquid diet and dropped to 135lbs in less than three months.

Despite being awarded a special honor by the NAACP for his practice of civil rights cases in the 1970s and 80s, he has been recorded by news crews and private citizens on numerous occasions screaming racial expletives at crowds of blacks and civilians. Members of the NAACP have stated in recent years that Phelps would not have been given the award had they known that he was using the civil rights cases as a front for extortion crimes.

Permanently disbarred from practicing law in 1987 for slander, libel, extortion, and harassment. The motion for Phelps' disbarment was signed by every federal judge in the state of Kansas. Phelps accepted disbarment on the grounds that none of his children, six of whom were also listed in the motion, would face the same fate; three of them (including Fred Jr. and Margie Phelps-Roper) were suspended for libel, slander, and harassment.

Fred Phelps is a registered Democrat in Kansas, and has even ran for the Democratic primary for governor three times (1990, 1994, and 1998).

In 1994, a woman attempted to murder him by running him over in her car after he allegedly shouted sexual obscenities at her during a picket. Phelps declined to press charges when the Topeka district attorney informed him that doing so would be essentially admitting that he was guilty of inciting violence, and he himself would be arrested and tried.

He is known for his work on Hatemongers (2000), The Most Hated Family in America (2007) and Judgment Day. He was married to Margie Phelps.