With a rich mellifluous voice, Father James E. Coughlin, a Roman Catholic priest in Michigan, broadcast a weekly radio show that was followed by millions during the Depression. Staunchly anti-Communist, he warned of the “Bolshevism of America.” Although he supported FDR in the 1932 presidential election, Father Coughlin increasingly moved to the right, ultimately forming the National Union of Social Justice .
In the late 1930s Father Coughlin praised Hitler and Mussolini. With the onset of WWII, the National Association of Broadcasters terminated his show and the Archbishop of Detroit ordered him to desist from political activity.