Coughlin Turns Down Invitation to Answer Elliott Roosevelt’s Attack

The Mutual Broadcasting System announced today that “radio priest” Charles E. Coughlin has declined “with regret” Elliott Roosevelt’s offer of free time on his tri-weekly sponsored program to reply to charges made by the President’s son in a broadcast Saturday night. It had been originally reported that Coughlin “welcomed” the opportunity to reply to Roosevelt’s assertion that he was an anti-Semite, a “compounder of stories” and a speculator in silver.

Coughlin, in a telegram to the broadcasting company, said it would not be “dignified for me to become a party in aiding sale of Emerson products.” (The Roosevelt program is sponsored by the Emerson Radio and Phonograph Corporation.) The “radio priest” also declined an offer by Mutual to give him free time Saturday night during an unsponsored period, declaring his reply to Roosevelt would be read during his regular Sunday afternoon program by the Rev. E.L. Curran of Brooklyn.