Peale was for a time the acting Chairman and Secretary, of the National Committee to Uphold Constitutional Government, a right wing pressure group which opposed Franklin Roosevelt's policies. As a result, in 1938, he was brought before a Senate Committee Investigating Lobbying Activities, and questioned concerning the committee's activities. On October 30, 1938, Peale appeared with Elizabeth Dilling, the Reverend Edward Lodge Curran, Francisco Franco, and other far right wing figures at a "Mass Meeting and Pro-American Rally" at the Commodore Hotel in New York, later described by Arthur Derounian, aka John Roy Carlson in his 1943 book Under Cover. Curran was a vocal supporter of the infamous anti-semite Father Charles Coughlin (whose demagoguery Peale had harshly criticised in 1935). Peale claimed to have been distressed by Carlson's book, claiming he'd been badgered into giving the convocation (a pre-meeting prayer) by a parishioner and had no idea of the nature of the rally. He claimed to be particularly distressed at the association with Dilling. He was advised that a defamation case against the publisher, Putnam's, was not feasible as he had in fact delivered the convocation as described. However, in 1943, after US entry into WW II, Peale preached a sermon denouncing antisemitism and demanding that the government and church take steps to "stamp it out." At the same time, as late as 1944, Peale appears willing to be described as the Chairman of the Committee for Constitutional Government and have his signature appended to its publications.