Father Coughlin: Fomenting Anti-Semitism via the Radio

Anti-semitism was the cause of one of the worst atrocities known to mankind, the Holocaust, however; the prejudicial belief followed the Jews to America where Father Coughlin was a key factor in the anti-semitic effort. In the 1930s and the 1940s, 53% of Americans agreed that the oppression of the Jews was fully justified. Father Coughlin's weekly sermons on radio WJR, incited anti-semitic action from farmers, industrial workers and laborers and at the time of the second World War, the American people named the Nazi's, the Japanese and the Jews the three most dangerous groups of people in the world.

Father Caughlin delivering one of his sermons.

Since earlier years Jews have been discriminated against and have gotten the finger pointed at them too many times. An example would of that discrimination would be the fixing of the 1919 World Series between the Chicago White Sox and the Cincinnati Reds. The White Sox owner, Arnold Rothstein was accused of paying members of his own team to lose the world series to make a huge sum of money from betting against the White Sox. Though he was never indicted, its kind of like the O.J case, a lot of controversy and little evidence to support the accusations. Then came Father Caughlin and his tidal wave of anti-semitic anecdotes. I have, in my notes, a list of a couple of things Father Caughlin said about the Jews which I think could be the most ridiculous accusations. First, he believed that the Jews "propelled" the idea of Communism into Russia, then he went on to say that Jewish bankers had financed the Russian Revolution. It only gets better with Caughlin, he then continued to say that he believed the Jews had manufactured the Second World War along with the Holocaust. However, the last anti-semitic quotation I will share of his was he believed that the American Civil War, our country's bloodiest and darkest time, wasn't a fight over slavery but to seek freedom from Jewish bankers.

I will be straight forward and say that I chose this article to blog about because it amazed me in so many ways. Just to begin with, Father Caughlin was not a mentally fit human being, he was definitely missing a few screws. His sermons were getting so ridiculous that the Attorney General of the time, Francis Biddle, and former FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover both investigated him and his group known as the Christian Front. And finally, after being on the radio for four-teen years, Caughlin's time finally came to an end, but at a steep price. His powerful words had attracted 45 million listeners every Sunday afternoon just to hear him speak, brainwashing them into what he believed in. However, Father Caughlin's legacy is a very important one in the history of our nation. Through his actions and his speeches, we look back on it today thinking bout how a voice on a radio can draw in and inspire so many people.