Christian Front
The Christian Front was an American organization founded in 1938 by Reverend Charles E. Coughlin, a radio priest known for his inflammatory rhetoric. Emerging during the Great Depression, the group was characterized by its pro-Fascist and anti-Semitic ideologies, appealing primarily to low-income city dwellers who were disillusioned by economic hardships. Coughlin utilized his influential platform to promote his views and encouraged followers to form local clubs aimed at combating perceived threats from Jews and communists. The organization gained notoriety for a 1940 incident in Brooklyn, where members were indicted for planning violent acts against public officials.
Despite Coughlin’s lack of formal leadership within the Christian Front, he played a significant role as an advisor and recruiter. Increased scrutiny from the FBI and the Catholic Church ultimately led to the decline of the organization, especially after the U.S. entered World War II. During the war, remnants of the group continued to operate, with incidents of violence reported, including attacks on Jewish communities. The Christian Front disbanded in 1945 and serves as a historical reflection of the racial and ethnic tensions prevalent in the United States during a turbulent period.
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Christian Front
Founded in 1938 by the “radio priest of Royal Oaks, Michigan,” the Reverend Charles E. Coughlin (1891-1979), the Christian Front consisted of a group of neighborhood clubs that emerged as a major American pro-Fascist, anti-Semitic organization. For the previous five years, millions of Americans, worn down by the Great Depression, had listened to Father Coughlin’s powerful, demagogic voice attack bankers, Jews, and communists while offering religious sermons and quick-fix solutions to the economic despair that gripped the nation. His appeal was particularly powerful among low-income city dwellers who also followed his widely circulated publication, Social Justice (1936 to 1942). Coughlin urged his followers to form neighborhood platoons to battle Jewish and communist enemies. In 1940, a Brooklyn gang of eighteen members of the Christian Front was indicted for planning to bomb public buildings and kill important government officials (although Coughlin himself disavowed any connection with this plan).
Although he did not hold an official position in the Christian Front, Coughlin served as an adviser and recruiter. A Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) investigation into the Christian Front brought increased church response. Finally, the U.S. entry into World War II caused the Catholic Church to order Coughlin to stop broadcasting and return to simple parish life. The war also caused Social Justice to be banned from the mails under the Espionage Act of 1917. Nevertheless, during the war, scattered Christian Front gangs still operated; in one notable incident in 1944, a Christian Front gang attacked Boston Jews in Dorchester. The Christian Front was in many ways symptomatic of racial and ethnic relations in the Depression years leading up to World War II—a time when many Americans were open to accepting scapegoats such as Jews and immigrants as the cause of their economic woes. The group disbanded in 1945.
Bibliography
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"Ep. 7: Sedition." PBS, 9 Mar. 2022, www.pbs.org/wnet/exploring-hate/2022/03/09/ep-7-sedition. Accessed 20 Oct. 2024.
Gallagher, Charles R. "The Forgotten History of the Far-Right, Pro-Nazi, Anti-Semitic 'Christian Front.'" Crime Reads, Sept. 2021, crimereads.com/forgotten-history-of-the-far-right-pro-nazi-anti-semitic-christian-front. Accessed 20 Oct. 2024.
Jeansonne, Glen. "The Priest and the President: Father Coughlin, FDR, and 1930s America." Midwest Quarterly, vol. 4, 2012, pp. 359–73.
Kaplan, Jeffrey, editor. "Father Charles Coughlin." Encyclopedia of White Power: A Sourcebook on the Radical Racist Right. AltaMira, 2000, pp. 67–70.
Norwood, Stephen H. "Marauding Youth and the Christian Front: Antisemitic Violence in Boston and New York during World War II." American Jewish History, vol. 91, no. 2, 2003, p. 233-67. Project MUSE, dx.doi.org/10.1353/ajh.2004.0055. Accessed 20 Oct. 2024.
"17 Christian Front Plotters Held for Grand Jury; $50,000 Bail Is Set." Jewish Telegraphic Agency, 16 Jan. 1940, www.jta.org/archive/17-frontists-indicted-face-8-years-in-jail-on-sedition-theft-charges. Accessed 20 Oct. 2024.