Coughlin, Charles E (Edward) ‘Father Coughlin’ (1891–1979)

Canadian-born US activist and Catholic priest. He won a huge audience in the 1930s for his radio broadcasts. At first a supporter of Franklin D Roosevelt, he later adopted ultraconservative views and anti-Semitic rhetoric and opposed US entrance into World War II.

He was born in Ontario, Canada, and was a pastor in Michigan 1926–66. In 1942 the Catholic hierarchy ordered him to stop broadcasting, and his inflammatory magazine, Social Justice, was banned from distribution because it violated the Federal Espionage Act.