Coughlin, Charles Edward

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COUGHLIN, CHARLES EDWARD

Charles Edward Coughlin (1891–1979) is not a household name in the later part of the twentieth century, when talk radio has taken on such a prominent role in public discourse. But from 1926 to 1940, this name was well known as a radio voice with a mission. A Roman Catholic priest first, radio personality second, and political activist third, Charles Edward Coughlin was a pioneer in radio talk who used the medium to promote his church, his religious beliefs, and his political agenda.

Born on October 25, 1891, in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, Coughlin was educated at Catholic schools and at St. Michael's College of the University of Toronto. He was ordained a priest in the Roman Catholic Church in 1916, and was assigned to assist parishes in the Detroit, Michigan, area. Coughlin was made a full parish priest (i.e. incardinated) by the Detroit diocese in 1923. In 1926 he was assigned his own church, the new Shrine of the Little Flower in Royal Oak, Michigan. Coughlin set about building the new parish by publicizing it. He began broadcasting a weekly show of religious topics over the local radio station, which proved to be widely popular, and within four years the show was picked up by the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) for national play.

Coughlin began his radio career speaking entirely on spiritual and religious matters. But by 1930 he spoke out strongly against communism. His denunciations gained him a reputation and earned him an appearance before the Committee to Investigate Communist Activities of the U.S. House of Representatives. The Great Depression (1929–1939) had begun by the end of 1930, however, and Coughlin's attention over the air waves turned to matters of poverty and despair.

"The radio priest," as he was known, addressed social problems through the years of the Great Depression, and he attacked Bolshevism and socialism as enemies of social justice. His constant attacks on the Hoover administration (1929–1933) and other controversial subjects in his broadcasts caused CBS to discontinue them in 1931. Coughlin then put together an independent broadcast network that eventually grew to 26 stations.

Coughlin championed Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933–1945) in the presidential election of 1932, calling the choice "Roosevelt or ruin." In turn, Roosevelt cultivated Coughlin's support but did so without embracing the politics of the priest. Coughlin advocated a program for altering American capitalism keyed to monetary inflation, which was based upon a late nineteenth century Papal encyclical, Rerum novarum. When Roosevelt refused to fully accept his ideas, however, Coughlin turned on Roosevelt and became a bitter critic.

Coughlin formed the National Union for Social Justice in 1934, an organization dedicated to combating communism and fighting for currency inflation and government control of big business. By 1936 Coughlin's animosity towards Roosevelt had grown to the point that he not only actively spoke out against his reelection, but also made his National Union for Social Justice the nucleus for the Union Party, an independent opposition party. The Union Party, inheritors of the followings of the late Huey P. Long (1893–1935) and Francis E. Townsend (1867–1960), polled fewer than 900,000 votes in Roosevelt's landslide victory in 1936. The National Union died with the election.

Charles Coughlin's influence declined over the next several years. He established a magazine, Social Justice, which ran from 1936 to 1942. He organized a new vehicle for his ideas, the Christian Front, and publicly pushed for his program and opposition to Roosevelt. As the 1930s wore on, however, Coughlin concentrated more and more on Communists and Jews as the source of societal and economic problems. Eventually, his rhetoric embraced a program that was anti-Semitic and fascist. He advocated a corporate state under which most political institutions would be demolished.

Coughlin's controversial attitudes split the Catholic populace. In 1940 the larger radio stations in Coughlin's network of affiliates did not renew his contract. When he refused to moderate his positions against the government following Pearl Harbor in World War II (1939–1945), his bishop officially silenced him. The U.S. Post Office banned his newsletter, and the last of the radio stations quit broadcasting his program. Still the good priest, Coughlin pulled back his activities to focus on the duties of running the parish.

For the remainder of his days, Coughlin accepted his less outspoken position and was effectively silenced. From the high days of his radio program, when he had to hire one hundred clerks to answer his mail and tabulate contributions, he remained the parish priest of the Shrine of the Little Flower until his retirement in 1966. From then until he died on October 27, 1979, he tended his home in Birmingham, Michigan, and wrote pamphlets denouncing Communism. A fiery, vibrant, and opinionated priest, he ultimately followed the orders of his church and restrained his own opinions.

Topic overview

The great betrayer and liar, Franklin D. Roosevelt, who promised to drive the money changers from the temple, had succeeded [only] in driving the farmers from their homesteads and the citizens from their homes in the cities. . . I ask you to purge the man who claims to be a Democrat, from the Democratic Party, and I mean Franklin Double-Crossing Roosevelt.

father charles coughlin, 1936

See also: Communism, Socialism