(3 of 3)
His friend Norman Vincent Peale persuaded him that a better way to handle his anger was to sell--preach, if you will--"positive thinking, love, responsibility and all the good things that we have inside of us." Linkletter has been on the inspirational stump ever since, visiting and talking to the elderly and, yes, children, "because they're conned into the idea that being rich, famous and popular is what success is all about."
And orphans of course. "A lot of adopted kids feel they are second-class citizens," Linkletter says. "I wanted adopted kids to know that I was adopted, and it didn't stop me, and it shouldn't stop them. At the same time, it gave me a little secret satisfaction that somewhere in Canada, those people, probably married, would see me on TV and say, 'You know, he was a keeper.'"