Prequel: An American Fight Against Fascism

by Rachel Maddow

“More than at any other time we need a strong, virilant [sic], sanctified group of Christian Americans,” Coughlin wrote in a letter to his followers in New York City. “The time has arrived when defensive policies mean giving way to an offensive plan; for the best method of defense is always of offense.” Coughlin started to talk about a Christian Front that could “forefend,” and the movement grew. “The Christian Front,” he exclaimed in one 1938 broadcast, “grows stronger, more courageous, and more determined. The Christian way is the peaceful way until all arguments have failed, all civil authority having failed, there is left no other way but the way of defending ourselves against the invaders of our spiritual and national rights—Franco’s way.” Generalissimo Francisco Franco’s way, as evidenced in his recent fascist military victory in Spain, was the way of the gun. The death toll of “Franco’s way” was in the hundreds of thousands and climbing by 1938, at which point the murderous “White Terror” against the generalissimo’s enemies was only just beginning. Father Coughlin was calling for a Franco-style armed revolt from his followers, with the paramilitary Christian Front in the vanguard.