Date of Award

Summer 8-31-2025

Document Type

Open Access Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

History

First Advisor

Timothy Hacsi, Associate Professor

Abstract

This paper traces the radicalization of Father Charles Coughlin, a radio populist radio preacher from the 1930s who is most well known today for the extreme anti-Semitism and fascist tendencies which defined the later parts of his career. It seeks to determine why Father Coughlin became a fascist, as well as examining how much of his fascism was evident in his earlier years. Major areas of focus include: 1) A conspiratorial anti-Communist worldview that would align Coughlin with right-wing authoritarianism and was present from his early days. 2) His ascent to becoming a national figure as a populist radio preacher in the first half of the 1930s. 3) His removal from the political mainstream as the result of a falling out with President Franklin Roosevelt and his failed attempt at creating the Union Party in 1936. 4) The fallout of the Union Party’s failure and Coughlin’s resentment of democracy as a system of government. And 5) Coughlin’s extreme fascist turn around 1938, resulting from a combination of the above factors, an increasing obsession with “atheistic Jews” as the villains of his conspiratorial worldview, and an affection for Fascist Catholic dictator Francisco Franco. The paper makes the case that there were always aspects of Coughlin’s politics that would draw him towards fascism, but that the above mentioned factors were what actually cemented that turn, showing how someone with conspiratorial and authoritarian tendencies can be made to become a full-blown fascist.

Comments

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