Father Charles Coughlin - America's First Radio Priest

Witness History

BBC

History, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 18 October 2016

⏱️ 9 minutes

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Summary

In the 1930s, a controversial Catholic priest called Father Charles Coughlin had a weekly radio programme with millions of listeners in the United States. As the decade wore on, Father Coughlin's views became so extreme and anti-Semitic that he was seen as a threat to national security by the White House. Simon Watts introduces recordings of Father Coughlin and talks to his biographer, Sheldon Marcus.

PHOTO: Father Coughlin at the microphone (Associated Press)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and thank you for downloading witness from the BBC World Service.
0:04.0	I'm Simon Watts and today I'm taking you back to America in the 1930s
0:08.7	when a Catholic priest called Father Charles Cocklin
0:11.6	was one of the nation's most popular broadcasters.
0:15.0	But by the time the USA entered World War II,
0:17.8	Father Cochrane's views had become so incendiary
0:20.8	that he was considered a danger to national security.
0:24.0	During the Great Depression in America,
0:32.0	millions of listeners tuned in every Sunday to hear a radio broadcast from Royal Oak, Michigan.
0:39.0	Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.
0:41.0	This is Charles Penman speaking and presenting the Reverend Charles E. Coglin.
0:46.0	My fellow citizens,
0:48.0	this broadcast tonight marked the beginning of the
0:52.0	mobilization of the whole nation.
0:54.0	Father Copeland's subject wasn't the Bible,
0:57.0	it was the dire economic conditions in America.
1:00.0	Every week the priest attacked money grabbing bankers and immoral communists in equal measure.
1:07.0	I have dedicated my life to fight against the heinous rottenness of modern capitalism because it robs the laborer of this
1:16.7	world's goods. Because it robs us all of the next world's happiness, I fight against communism.
1:27.4	Christianity must prevail.
1:30.8	He was very charismatic. He's also the first person to understand that this new media called
1:38.5	the radio could be a dynamic force.
	...

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