Reverend Charles Edward Coughlin, radio orator, publisher of the magazine , and head of the political organization, the National Union for Social Justice, was one of the most influential personalities to arise in America during the 1930s. His speeches and writings targeted the ills of socialism, communism, and capitalist indulgences, which Coughlin viewed as the impetuses for the economic and political crises of the time. Due to his ability to engage the American people, Coughlin rivaled Franklin D. Roosevelt in both popularity and influence. However, with the advent of World War II, his anti-Semitic remarks, isolationist stance, and bellicose tone, caused the federal government and Church superiors to silence him. Nevertheless, the evidence of Coughlin’s influence over the American people serves to represent the tenor and sentiments of this period.

Charles E. Coughlin was born in Hamilton, Ontario on October 25, 1891 to Thomas J. Coughlin, a Great Lakes stoker from Indiana, and to Amelia Mahoney Coughlin, a Canadian seamstress. Raised a Catholic, Coughlin attended St. Michael’s College in 1911 before studying for the priesthood at St. Basil’s Seminary. During his preparation, Coughlin was introduced to Pope Leo XIII encyclical, On the Condition of the Working Class (1891), which advocated for social justice rooted in Catholic thought, and for the eradication of both socialism and the excesses of capitalism. These ideas became the foundation for Coughlin’s later arguments against socialist and capitalist practices.

Upon ordination in 1916, Coughlin taught at Assumption College in Windsor, Ontario until 1922. Then, he was assigned to a small parish in Kalamazoo, Michigan and was later placed at the Shrine of the Little Flower Church in Royal Oaks, Michigan in 1926. He would serve this parish until his retirement in 1966.

The radio program that brought Fr. Coughlin to the national public stage began as a response to a Ku Klux Klan cross burning at the Little Flower Church. Coughlin believed that if he could explain Christian teachings to the local community, he could eliminate these types of incidents. His show first aired on October 3, 1926 and was designed to teach the Catholic faith to children. However, it soon attracted a broader audience and the CBS radio network began broadcasting the program nationally in 1930.

With the spread of the Great Depression, Coughlin soon shifted the focus of his radio sermons to political and economic topics. The content of the shows centered on the evils of socialism, communism, the greed of capitalism, and the need for equalizing reforms. Appealing to the sentiments of the public, Coughlin’s fame spread. The House of Representatives came to recognize him as an expert on communism and invited Coughlin to address the Committee to Investigate Communist Activities. His position on these topics was further developed in the works, (1930), and (1931).

In 1931, Coughlin began to criticize the Hoover Administration for its failure to address the economic crisis, and CBS refused to renew his contract due to his inflammatory tone. Unhindered, Coughlin organized his own network that eventually grew to forty-seven stations with an estimated audience of 3.5 million people per week.

Coughlin's radio sermons supported Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the New Deal, and advocated for nationalizing the gold standard, seizing federal control over the banking system, restructuring the Federal Reserve, and adopting a form of corporatism, analogous to the system found in fascist Italy. He cemented these ideas in the work, (1933). By 1934, Coughlin had a strong following of supporters which he organized into the political group, the National Union of Social Justice.

Despite Coughlin’s initial support of Roosevelt, he soon became disillusioned by the Roosevelt Administration’s policies, which he believed were paradoxically tainted by both international socialism and Wall Street capitalism. As a result his radio show became increasingly bellicose in tone as he attacked Roosevelt’s policies. The Roosevelt administration then began to seek ways to reign in Coughlin.

Joseph Kennedy, Bishop Francis Spellman, and Eugenio Cardinal Pacelli (the future Pope Pius XII) were among prominent Catholic leaders who looked towards the Vatican to stem Coughlin’s provocative remarks. However, because the Bishop of Detroit, Michael Gallagher, supported Coughlin, the Vatican had difficulty in restricting him.

Coughlin became a political supporter of Huey Long’s 1935 campaign against Roosevelt. When Long was assassinated, Coughlin and The National Union of Social Justice became the center for the new Union Party, a political organization with a strong base of support from mid-western nativists. The group ran a candidate against Roosevelt in the 1936 election, but they were largely defeated. In 1938, Coughlin changed the name of the National Union of Social Justice to the Christian Front.

From 1936 until 1941, Fr. Coughlin’s popularity and influence in America rivaled that of President Roosevelt. His weekly radio sermons promoted an isolationist foreign policy and Coughlin came to endorse the group, America First. Coughlin’s speeches directly appealed to the tenets of the time and played on the fears and concerns of the American people. Many of his supporters were among those who decried the Asylum Laws, which permitted Jewish refugees to enter America.

His program, however, became increasingly anti-Semitic, and Coughlin blamed Jewish bankers for the Russian Revolution, Marxist atheism, the Great Depression, and for trying to bring America into a European war. In 1936, Coughlin began to publish the magazine, , which frequently contained anti-Semitic rhetoric, including a copy of the fraudulent “Protocols of the Elders of Zion.” In addition, he voiced sympathy for Hitler and Mussolini, who he viewed as bulwarks against the Soviet Union’s spread of communism.

At first Coughlin’s stance drew in substantial public approval, however, the changing international climate hampered his influence. Before long many radio stations refused to broadcast his programs, and other networks insisted that Coughlin follow pre-approved scripts. In 1939, the Code Committee of the National Association of Broadcasting responded to the invasion of Poland by limiting radio shows that centered on controversial public issues. This regulation severely restricted the content of Coughlin’s shows.

Undeterred, Coughlin continued to print the to voice his opinions. This approach also met obstacles when in 1940, the FBI invaded a Christian Front branch in New York, and found a cache of weapons that were believed to be intended for use against Jews, communists, and congressmen. While Coughlin was not directly tied to this plot, his affiliation with the Christian Front damaged his reputation. Upon further investigation under the Espionage Act, Coughlin’s privilege to use the United States Post Office to deliver was revoked.

The final blow to Coughlin’s influence came in 1942. His initial support for Hitler and Mussolini, coupled with his continued condemnation of the Soviet Union, America’s ally, and persistent push for isolationism, no longer represented the majority opinion. Viewed as a political liability, Archbishop of Detroit Edward Francis Mooney ordered Coughlin to abandon the airwaves, stop production of , and return to his parish duties. Although Coughlin was forced to comply, he continued to write a number of pamphlets during the 1950s and 1960s in which he condemned communism.

Coughlin remained pastor of the Shrine of the Little Flower until his retirement in 1966. After a series of health ailments, Father Charles E. Coughlin passed away in Bloomfield, Michigan on October 27, 1979.