A Composition of Father Coughlin's Antisemitic Broadcasts

The Rulers of Russia - 1940

During the 1930s, America battled Hitler supporters on the homefront. Among them was Father Charles E. Coughlin (1891-1979), a conservative Roman Catholic priest and national radio broadcaster. He became a preacher for Shrine of the Little Flower church in Royal Oak, MI in 1926, the same year he started his radio program. He used his radio show for political purposes and was influential in political campaigns, particularly with his aggressive support of Franklin Roosevelt during his first term and, initially, the New Deal. During the 1930s, Coughlin's politics became extremely right-wing and he began to speak highly of the Nazi party, claiming it was needed to stop the Communist regime in Russia. In The Rulers of Russia, Coughlin supporter Reverend Denis Fahey compiled Coughlin's antisemitic broadcasts, which justified the Nazi movement by claiming that Jews controlled Russia and were spilling Christian blood. At the show's peak, it reached over thirty million people in the United States daily. As World War II escalated, Father Coughlin began to lose listeners and was banned from the radio in 1940. He was employed as preacher of Little Flower church until he retired in 1966.