With the rise of Nazi Germany in the 1930’s, anti-Semitism became more pronounced in the United States. One of its loudest voices was Father Coughlin’s. By 1938, his radio broadcasts and articles in his magazine Social Justice were overtly anti-Semitic. From July through October 1938, Social Justice published the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion”, a notorious fraudulent anti-Semitic tract purporting to document a Jewish plan for world domination. The Protocols originated in Czarist Russia at the beginning of the 20th century and are published even today by anti-Semitic groups.

The publication of the Protocols was followed by an anti-Semitic explanation for the destruction of Jewish businesses in Nazi Germany during and after November 9 – 10, 1938 (Kristallnacht). Fr. Coughlin’s broadcast of November 20, 1938, claimed Jews were responsible for the Nazi persecution, noting that “since the time of Christ, Jewish persecution only followed after Christians first were persecuted…” He falsely claimed the persecution of Christians in Russia after the 1917 communist revolution had been perpetrated by communist Jewish leaders and this explained the Nazi persecution of Jews. An article titled “Anti-Semitism a Shield” published in the December 5th, 1938 copy of Social Justice advanced this false narrative stating historic Jewish persecution “was because he (Jew) is a victim of his secret government ruled by Jewish leaders.”

After the November 20, 1938 broadcast, many radio stations dropped Fr. Coughlin’s program. He responded to these cancellations with anti-Semitic claims. After a prominent New York City radio station ceased his broadcasts in 1939, he stated the cancellation was because of threats by “Jewish controlled” advertisers, comparing the station’s action to the “thirty pieces of silver which Judas Iscariot clutched in his reeking hands…”

Fr. Coughlin continued his anti-Semitic rhetoric until he was forced by his archbishop to cease the radio broadcasts in 1940 and publication of Social Justice in 1942. Fr. Coughlin was ordered to desist from public comments in the future.