Is Father Coughlin an anti-Semite?
On several occasions Father Coughlin has insisted that he is not. He has definitely denied charges against him that into his radio talks from his Detroit station he indirectly injects anti-Semitism. He has made it clear that he has nothing against the average Jew.
But those who had occasion to listen-in to his address over the radio Monday evening are beginning to doubt whether Father Coughlin’s assurances are sincere. They are beginning to question whether Father Coughlin is not one of those clever anti-Jewish campaigners who are cloaking their anti-Semitism in diplomatic words and phrases.
DANGEROUS ANTI-SEMITISM
There are two kinds of anti-Semitism. One is the kind that comes out openly against the Jews. The Pelley type. The type of ex-Congressman McFadden. An open and an outspoken enemy about whom the Jews make no mistake.
This type of Jew-baiter, bad as he is, is still not as dangerous as the other kind, who says that he has nothing against the Jews but at the same time poisons the American air with anti-Jewish insinuations and with wellmanipulated, hidden anti-Jewish propaganda.
Monday’s radio address arouses the suspicion that Father Coughlin belongs to the last group; that he is more dangerous to the Jews of the United States than are the Pelleys and their like.
BANKERS AND FINANCIERS
The worst lie is a half-truth. This is exactly what Father Coughlin used in his speech on Monday evening. He attacked General Johnson as a tool of the bankers and financiers. But who are the financiers Father Coughlin enumerated? Are they the Rockefellers? Are they the Mellons? Are they the more than a 100 persons listed by the Nye investigation as the ones who made millions on armaments?
No. Father Coughlin carefully omits, with one exception, mentioning any non-Jewish name among the financiers who, he contends, are utilizing General Johnson for their private profit. On one occasion he mentions Morgan’s name briefly, but his attack is concentrated on the “Manasses,” on the Rothschilds, on the Warburgs, on the Kuhn-Loebs, on the Baruchs.
THE FALSE IMPRESSION
An average American, listening-in to Father Coughlin’s radio address, could easily have formed the opinion that the entire banking system in America is actually controlled by Jewish financiers alone, when Father Coughlin well knows that this is not so. By deliberately listing just the names of the few Jewish bankers in America and by carefully omitting mention of the names of the non-Jewish bankers, Father Coughlin is actually creating the false impression that the Jews are responsible for what he thinks is wrong with the present political machinery of America.
One cannot be so naive as to think that Father Coughlin, in just picking the names of a few Jewish financiers, did not realize that he was spreading anti-Semitism in his radio speech. Father Coughlin is a schooled politician. He knows what to emphasize and when. He, more than others, knows that by mentioning the names of just the few Jewish bankers and by emphasizing again and again that Mr. Baruch’s middle name is Manasses, he sows anti-Jewish poison. (Incidentally, Father Coughlin is as inaccurate as he is glib, since Mr. Baruch’s middle name is Mannes, not Manasses, and bears no relation to the Biblical character of that name).
FRIENDS AND ENEMIES
The Jews of America are very little interested in protecting Mr. Baruch or any other individual from the attacks of Father Coughlin. As a matter of fact, Mr. Baruch has never been considered much of a Jew. American Jewry must, however, be on guard when Father Coughlin delivers his attacks against Baruch and the others in a way which creates the impression that he is seeking to provoke anti-Jewish feelings in general.
It is high time for American Jewry to know definitely and concretely whether Father Coughlin means it when he assures us that he has nothing against the Jews or whether he is one of those anti-Semites who cleverly hide their anti-Semitic propaganda behind a flood of general phrases. A hidden enemy is always more dangerous than an enemy in the open. We must know, once and forever, how to classify Father Coughlin. Is he our friend or is he our enemy?
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
