Changes

==Presidential Politics==

==Presidential Politics==

n 1934 the priest founded the National Union for Social Justice, and in 1936 established the weekly newspaper Social Justice. That same year he joined with the Protestant evangelist and anti-Semite Gerald L. K. Smith and with Dr. Francis Townsend of California to found the anti-Roosevelt Union Party. They created a left-wing alternative to the New Deal's stalled progress, the Union Party. It made old-age pensions a central issue and offered Populist North Dakota Congressman William Lemke as a presidential candidate in 1936. Union Party supporters were not economically marginal proletarians or political radicals, but mostly blue collar working men and women who faced financial disaster due to the depression and sought future security. The radical economic programs of Townsend and Coughlin gained mainstream appeal at the height of the depression.  Coughlin's aggressive rhetoric escalated; he ripped off his Roman collar and called the President "Franklin Double-Crossing Roosevelt" and a liar and a betrayer. Catholics and non-Catholics alike were disturbed; the Vatican cautioned Bishop Gallagher, but the bishop was supportive of Coughlin to the end.<ref> Matthew Bowman, "'It Is Time We Do Something Radical': the Union Party in Utah," ''Utah Historical Quarterly'' 2004 72(3): 253-270</ref> Lemke won 2% of the vote and the party disappeared.

n 1934 the priest founded the National Union for Social Justice, and in 1936 established the weekly newspaper Social Justice. That same year he joined with the Protestant evangelist and anti-Semite Gerald L. K. Smith and with Dr. Francis Townsend of California to found the anti-Roosevelt Union Party. They created a left-wing alternative to the New Deal's stalled progress, the Union Party. It made old-age pensions a central issue and offered Populist North Dakota Congressman William Lemke as a presidential candidate in 1936. Union Party supporters were not economically marginal proletarians or political radicals, but mostly blue collar working men and women who faced financial disaster due to the depression and sought future security.<ref> Matthew Bowman, "'It Is Time We Do Something Radical': the Union Party in Utah," ''Utah Historical Quarterly'' 2004 72(3): 253-270</ref>  The radical economic programs of Townsend and Coughlin gained mainstream appeal at the height of the depression.  Coughlin's aggressive rhetoric escalated; he ripped off his Roman collar and called the President "Franklin Double-Crossing Roosevelt" and a liar and a betrayer. Catholics and non-Catholics alike were disturbed; the Vatican cautioned Bishop Gallagher, but the bishop was supportive of Coughlin until he died in 1937.Lemke won 2% of the vote and the party disappeared.

==Anti-Semitism==

==Anti-Semitism==

From 1936 Coughlin began to express admiration for [[Hitler]] and [[Mussolini]] and to attack [[American Jews]]; he founded a publication 'Social Justice' which published extracts from a forgery called ''[[The Protocols of the Elders of Zion]]''. He set up the "Christian Front", an anti-Semitic organization suppressed by the FBI in 1940; it was responsible for physical attacks on Jewish families on the east coast.<ref>Stephen H. Norwood,  "Marauding Youth and the Christian Front: Antisemitic Violence in Boston and New York During World War II," ''American Jewish History'' 2003 91(2): 233-267 </ref> In 1938, following [[Holocaust#Crystal_Night|Kristellnacht]] in Nazi Germany, he blamed the Jewish victims for the assaults they had suffered.

From 1936 Coughlin began to express admiration for [[Hitler]] and [[Mussolini]]; by 1938 he was attacking [[American Jews]]; ''Social Justice'' published extracts from a forgery called ''[[The Protocols of the Elders of Zion]]''. He set up the "Christian Front", an anti-Semitic organization suppressed by the FBI in 1940; it was responsible for physical attacks on Jewish families on the east coast.<ref>Stephen H. Norwood,  "Marauding Youth and the Christian Front: Antisemitic Violence in Boston and New York During World War II," ''American Jewish History'' 2003 91(2): 233-267 </ref> In 1938, following [[Holocaust#Crystal_Night|Kristellnacht]] in Nazi Germany, he blamed the Jewish victims for the assaults they had suffered.

==Suppressed==

==Suppressed==

By the late thirties, pressure was growing from both inside and outside the church to stop Coughlin's broadcasts. Several major networks refused to carry his talks, or insisted on prior approval of his scripts; but he only ceased broadcasting upon receipt of a direct order from the Bishop of Detroit in 1942.  He remained a parish priest but was totally out of the limelight.

By the late thirties, pressure was growing from both inside and outside the Church to stop Coughlin's broadcasts. Several major networks refused to carry his talks, or insisted on prior approval of his scripts; but he only ceased broadcasting upon receipt of a direct order from the Bishop of Detroit in 1942.  He remained a parish priest but stayed totally out of the limelight.

== External links ==

== External links ==