***darn it*****
The story of Coyle is an interesting one and truly reveals the heart of the Democratic Party...particularly as it operated in the deep South.
As stated earlier, both Southerners and Catholics were "yellow dog Democrats" back in the day (and many still are).
The Deep South was never anti-Catholic, having a semi-feudal society similar to that of medieval Europe. In fact at the time of the Civil War many Catholics had a deep affinity for the South and many in the North became Copperheads.
It was the North, inheriting traditions from Puritan New England that was anti-Catholic. Many Republicans associated Catholicism with Southern slavery and were anti-Catholic. Moreover, in the election of 1928 the Deep South went solidly for Al Smith. The only defections to the Republican party were in my own Upper South, which to a large extent is more similar to Puritan New England than the Deep South ever was.