Posted on 01/18/2007 11:57:28 AM PST by television is just wrong
Father Coughlin first took to the airwaves in 1926, broadcasting weekly sermons over the radio. By the early 1930s the content of his broadcasts had shifted from theology to economics and politics. Just as the rest of the nation was obsessed by matters economic and political in the aftermath of the Depression, so too was Father Coughlin. Coughlin had a well-developed theory of what he termed "social justice," predicated on monetary "reforms." He began as an early Roosevelt supporter, coining a famous expression, that the nation's choice was between "Roosevelt or ruin." Later in the 1930s he turned against FDR and became one of the president's harshest critics. His program of "social justice" was a very radical challenge to capitalism and to many of the political institutions of his day.
(Excerpt) Read more at ssa.gov ...
Did you know that the Royal Oak Post Office was built to deal with the tons of Coughlin mail that was coming in from across the country?
Coughlin was clearly one of them...
He went from being a crank to being a demagogue who was a major antisemite and admirer of Hitler. Church authorities tried to shut him down, but unfortunately the only person (IIRC) who could do anything to him as Church law then stood was his bishop, who clearly sympathized with him. In addition, he had a huge following of people in this country who believed his nonsense, some of them probably merely because they didn't like FDR, but others because they were antisemites and sympathizers of Hitler.
I think they were able to get his radio program shut down somehow, but he was never formally disciplined until a new bishop came in (in the 1960s!) and then I think he had to give up his various political activities.
I don't see what his attraction could be.
Funny how all these electronic preachers all want to leave behind a lot of bricks.
No I didn't. I did know that he was extremely popular during the early 1930s. It may have had something to do with the fact that most Americans are of German extraction and Coughlin was certainly a Germanophile (if that's a word).
Sounds like a regular Andrew Greeley.
Wonderful man.
Most Americans are not of German extraction. Although many are. I believe it's the third largest ethnic heritage, at least for white Americans.
Coughlin claimed that the Depression was a cash famine, and proposed monetary reforms, including the elimination of the Federal Reserve System, as the solution
An analysis later championed by Milton Freidman, who had the benefit of hindsight in his favor
Too bad he couldn't beat the Eagles.
I've been inside that church. My parents clan lived in Royal Oak for a period of time.
curiosity. I heard a lot of his name, but never really looked into what he stood for. On a booklet I found, in my fathers posessions, it is written on the bottom,
"It is ok to be antichristian, but a crime in the United States to be antisemetic."
Father Coughlin's comments March 16, 1942.
I think that was one of Fr. Coughlin's "slogans." I would read him with great care, because he really had a tremendous amount of ugliness, hatred and paranoia in his radio shows and writings. He was before my time, but I heard a snippet of one of his radio broadcasts once. Very creepy.
read part of the booklet, seems kind of odd.
In a biography I read a few years ago FDR met with Coughlin's archbishop (or cardinal) and said Coughlin was going to be charged with treason (this was at the beginning of our involvement in WWII) unless he was taken off the air. The cardinal (archbishop?) ordered Coughlin to quit and the treason threat was dropped.
I disagree. The studies I've seen list the following ethnic origins (for Caucasians)ranked according to numbers:
German
English
Irish
French
Italian
Scottish
Polish
Dutch
Swedish
Norwegian
Russian
Czech
Hungarian
Welsh
Danish
Portuguese
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