The views expressed yesterday by Father Charles E. Coughlin with regard to the Jews in America will be read with great interest by many who have considered Father Coughlin biased against the Jews.
The interview, which we carry today on our news pages, makes clear what Reverend Coughlin actually thinks of the Jews.
One may agree or disagree with Father Coughlin in his belief that anti-Semitism in America is “either dead or dying,” but there will be many who will certainly accept his view that Jews should pay no attention to the artificially stimulated anti-Semitic efforts in our country.
Not many will agree with Reverend Coughlin’s views on Palestine, as expressed in the interview. His advice that the Jewish refugees from Germany would do better to proceed to the Mississippi Valley than to Palestine may perhaps sound logical to some. It could not, however, be carried out in practice since the gates to the Mississippi Valley are still locked by a strictly regulated immigration quota. The belief that this quota will soon be abolished and that the United States will reopen its doors to Jewish immigration from the countries of oppression can be taken just as a cheerful hope, as an expression of good will, but not as something which can solve the problem of the Jewish refugees from Germany immediately.
There is a good deal of truth in the comparison which Father Coughlin makes between the Jews and the Catholics. The Jews certainly do not need to apologize for participating in the present administration. Those Jews who are active in the Washington administration are there not as Jews but as good American citizens. So are the Catholics and the members of other religious groups there.
The interview given by Father Coughlin will no doubt help to eradicate the suspicion which prevailed that the famed priest is biased against the Jews. No matter whether many will agree or disagree with his analysis of the Jewish situation as presented in his interview, none will continue to carry the impression that Father Coughlin is grinding the anti-Jewish axe.
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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.
