ABSTRACT
The three most prominent "radical-right" movements of the past three decades have been Coughlinism, which figured prominently in the political life of the 1930s; McCarthyism, which flared up in the early 1950s; and the John Birch Society, which has occasioned much controversy in the beginning of the 1960s. The analysis of the supporters of Father Coughlin is based on two surveys conducted by the Gallup organization in April and December, 1938. Rural areas and small towns have traditionally been identified as centers of conservatism, populism, and anti-Semitism in the United States and other countries. This pattern held true regarding attitudes toward Coughlin. The Social Base of McCarthyism is extremely difficult to ascertain from survey data the proportion of "McCarthyites" in the population during the Senator's heyday. Many of the political policies discussed in the original edition of this book as aspects of McCarthyism clearly have to be differentiated from the symbolic role the Wisconsin Senator played in American political life.
