Possibility that the investigation of the Christian Front would be extended to include Charles E. Coughlin, who yesterday reversed his previous stand and admitted his support of the Front, was seen today in the statement of Attorney General Robert H. Jackson that he had instructed United States Attorney Harold Kennedy in Brooklyn to examine the activities of anyone who “abetted, directed, financed or incited” the 17 Frontists under arrest for seditious conspiracy.
(In Brooklyn, Kennedy said he had not yet received the official instructions from Jackson and declined to comment on Coughlin’s possible connection with the case on the ground that the whole investigation was a matter coming before the Grand Jury this week.)
The Attorney General’s statement came yesterday after growing demands that the Justice Department investigate Coughlin’s connection with Christian Front activities and while the radio priest himself, in his Sunday broadcast, was announcing that “I do not disassociate myself” from the Front.
The statement follows: “I have today instructed United States Attorney Harold Kennedy at Brooklyn as to the scope of the grand jury investigation. This investigation will include examination of the activities of any individual or group, wherever located, who may have aided, abetted, directed, financed or incited these particular defendants or any other subversive groups working for similar unlawful ends.
“Out of the investigation should come a clear identification of any persons or groups who have provoked or financed or otherwise conspired with these defendants. They should be held responsible for their conduct if they have violated or induced the violation of any Federal law.
“In order to expedite the Brooklyn proceedings I have instructed Assistant Attorney General 0. John Rogge, Chief of the Criminal Division, and members of his staff who have been in charge of cases involving subversive groups elsewhere in the United States, to go to New York to cooperate with United States Attorney Kennedy and I have asked United States Attorneys John T. Cahill of New York and William J. Campbell of Chicago to cooperate by furnishing all helpful evidence in their possession.”
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.
