Radio priest: Charles Coughlin, the father of hate radio
New York:
Free Press
(1996), ix, 376 pp., bibliogr. p.352-363, index
"For me, growing up in Detroit, Coughlin was a fascinating figure of local lore: both loved and hated, he was clearly someone whose career cannot be reduced to a single dimension. It may well be argued that the conventional standards of biography should not be applied to media figures, for theirs is a life of fused private and public selves. In the case of Charles Coughlin, to know the real man behind the microphone is certainly beyond the ken of the author. Here lies the particular dilemma of this study: how to discern whether the subject is the mirror of his audience or its manipulator. And this remains the problem regardless of how one feels about his message. Moreover, the temptation to obliterate this duality—inner versus other-directed self—must be set aside. For as a media personality Charles Coughlin was both the creator and the captive of his enthusiastic public." (Preface)
Contents
Introduction: Vox Populi, 1
1 A Child of Circumstance, 8
2 Inventing the Political Soap Opera, 20
3 A Player on the New Deal Team, 40
4 Off the FDR Bandwagon, 57
5 “I Know the Pulse of the People”, 71
6 “Two and a Half Rival Messiahs”, 82
7 All the World’s a Stage, 98
8 Foreign Intrigues, 118
9 “Jewish Actions Which Cause Cruel Persecution”, 129
10 Charity Begins at Home, 161
11 The Trial of the “Brooklyn Boys”, 188
12 Just a Soldier in the Pope’s Army, 199
13 “Sentenced to the Silence of a Sealed Sepulchre”, 229
14 “And the Truth Shall Be Known”, 269
15 The Ghost of Royal Oak, 291
Appendix, 303
1 A Child of Circumstance, 8
2 Inventing the Political Soap Opera, 20
3 A Player on the New Deal Team, 40
4 Off the FDR Bandwagon, 57
5 “I Know the Pulse of the People”, 71
6 “Two and a Half Rival Messiahs”, 82
7 All the World’s a Stage, 98
8 Foreign Intrigues, 118
9 “Jewish Actions Which Cause Cruel Persecution”, 129
10 Charity Begins at Home, 161
11 The Trial of the “Brooklyn Boys”, 188
12 Just a Soldier in the Pope’s Army, 199
13 “Sentenced to the Silence of a Sealed Sepulchre”, 229
14 “And the Truth Shall Be Known”, 269
15 The Ghost of Royal Oak, 291
Appendix, 303
