ABSTRACT

During the 1930s and 1940s, a virulent anti-Semitism pervaded American society. Jews were unacceptable to many employers and unwelcome at many universities and social clubs. The American news media helped fuel anti-Semitism, with many newspapers openly supporting the various forms of discrimination. The single most influential anti-Semitic spokesman in the country was a Roman Catholic priest who took to the radio airwaves and spread hateful venom across America. Detroit newsmen anointed Coughlin the "Radio Priest," and the young cleric signed a contract to speak nationwide on CBS radio. Coughlin reinforced his anti-Semitic views when he reprinted the spurious "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" in Social Justice. Many radio stations that had broadcast Coughlin's shocking defense of the Nazis immediately denounced it as incendiary. The story of how he spread anti-Semitism provides students of journalism history with a stunning example of the power of the radio to propel change—and not necessarily by appealing to the best in human nature.