Catholic Priest Exposes War Agenda in 1939: “The propagandists are at work in government, in journalism, and in the cinemas. Forewarned is forearmed!”

Liberty Fight – by Martin Hill

“This conclusion my friends is crystal clear. Namely that the propaganda machine is already at work . The press, the cinema, well known citizens, are either wittingly or unwittingly conditioning America for war. The invasion is upon you! Racial and religious psychology is being employed to line up leaders. Catch words are being used as bait to deceive the masses. Once more therefore I restate, what are we Americans planning to do about this foreign invasion? An invasion not of soldiers armed with machine guns – but of professional propagandists to stand behind the remarks at the dinner table or assault you from the silver screen or the columms of a newspaper as they explode the bombs of poison gas over the countryside of our country… A sane parent would not welcome a leper in his home to live with his children. And a sane government that must not permit the lepers of propaganda to seek hospitality within our shores and thereby spread the disease of hate, of war, of murder, and of injustice amongst our innocent people!” – Fr. Charles E. Coughlin, 5/7/39

75 years ago, on May 7, 1939, Fr. Charles E. Coughlin of Royal Oak, Michigan presented his weekly radio address to millions of Americans. This particular week, his address was entitled “Propaganda At Work.” His announcer prefaced the broadcast by announcing, as usual, that the message would be “printed in social justice magazine and will be available to all members of this audience.” The announcer addded that the broadcast was “suported by those making sacrifies to preserve Americanism and Christianity in this nation.”

Coughlin began “foreign propaganda is nothing more than an invasion. It does not explode shells, blow up buildings, or directly maim and kill millions of our citizens. Nevertheless it poisons minds, dynamites peace, wrecks homes, and transforms our population into lustful beasts. To keep free from war, we must keep free from propaganda which leads to war. Today I will disclose to you an astounding plan not only discussed in English political circles, but incorporated into an authoritative book- a plan for propagandizing the United States into the next war. The book to which I refer is not for sale. It is a handbook distributed to a select few in the inner circle of British [??] and as far as we know, there is only one copy of this book available in America. It bears the title ‘THE NEXT WAR’ and is divided into several volumes. One volume is listed as ‘PROPAGANDA IN THE NEXT WAR.'”

“…Be advised my friends that Great Britain has cast her evil eye upon us. Unbelievable and fairy like as this sounds, I am prepared to supply every person in this audience with a reprint of chapter four of the book entitled ‘PROPAGANDA IN THE NEXT WAR’ to support this contention. From this chapter I shall quote extensively today, to prove that at this moment and for months to come, you and your fellow citizens will be subjected to the most destructive germs of propaganda originating from abroad. Germs which will generate a fever of hate and of insanity within our hearts and souls.

Coughlin continues to explain how U.S. Senator Gerald Nye on April 25, 1939, warned that they will use propaganda to “embroil us in another foreign war.”

WhatReallyHappened.com published a forward to the 1938 book and notes “In a Congressional speech in the United States Senate on April 25th 1939, recorded in the Congressional Record, 76th Congress, Vol.84, No.82, pages 6597-6604, Senator Gerald P. Nye, of North Dakota, said: “There has been published a series of works under the title ‘The Next War.’ One of the volumes in this series is entitled ‘Propaganda In The Next War.’ This particular volume was written by one Sidney Rogerson. I have been unable to obtain any trace of his background or of his connections; but the editor-in-chief of all these works, including the one entitled ‘Propaganda in the Next War’ is a man whose name is recog­nised the world over as an authority in Great Britain. He is non-other than Capt. Liddell Hart, associated with the London Times, a writer and a military authority in Europe. The following are quotations from this authority:…”

Coughlin quotes from the book which reads like a PNAC document from the 1930s! The propagandists explain that embroiling the U.S. into a second World War would be difficult but “will naturally be considerably eased if Japan were involved!:”
“To persuade her (the United States) to take our part will be much more difficult, so difficult as to be unlikely to succeed; It will need a definite threat to America, a threat, moreover which will have to be brought home by propaganda to every citizen, before the republic will again take arms in an external quarrel… The position will naturally be considerably eased if Japan were involved, and this might and probably would bring America in without further ado.” Coughlin continues “oh Machiavelli at his best or his worst! For the innocent amateur my friends, when compared to lenial descendants of deceit- who at this moment are operating upon you for your destruction! You who digested the lying propaganda of democracy twenty years ago.”

“…Nevertheless, they are prepared to sing the same siren song to your ears again. They are still depending upon your gullibility. They are still banking upon your unintelligence, as they say, to lead you like sheep to the slaughter tomorrow, as they did your fathers and brothers yesterday. For oh, they are ingenious. Quoting once more from this book which is privately issued, only to the inner circle, and which fortunately has fallen into our hands, 18 let me give you a hint of how the propagandists lay a plan to utilize the cinema – which is already infiltrated with foreigners- and owned and operated in many instances by internationalists. We read in this British book, quotations: “In the realm of the cinema, we may be able to depend on the natural bias of the United States film manufacturers in favour of Great Britain as opposed to Germany, Japan, or Italy, and on their command of the machinery of international film distribution. This will be an asset both with the stock entertainment picture and the news reels.”Unquote. My friends, already Hollywood has succummed to the pressure of this foreign propaganda. May I site one instance of it for you. Recently the Warner Brothers are releasing a play entitled ‘THE CONFESSIONS OF A NAZI SPY.’… Its’ leading man, Edward G. Robinson, who’s old stage name was Emannual Goldenberg, speaks the following lines, and says ‘I am a Nazi spy… to steal the secrets of your national defense… Our agents stationed in all the navy yards of Brooklyn Philadelphia and Newport news…”

Coughlin continues indignantly: “There’s something for you Americans to ponder upon, as you seek recreation of the shadowland of untruth.. There’s propaganda at work. While you people pay to be propagandized. Finally, I quote from part 2 of chapter 4 of Britains handbook of propaganda, to show what efforts already have produced in our country. We read, quotations, ‘Fortunately with America, our propaganda is on firm ground. We can be entirely sincere, as our main plank will the old democratic one. We must clearly enunciate our belief in the democratic form of government, and our resolve to adhere to it. Our minor propaganda will aim at attaching the support of important sections, such as the Jews, probably by the declaration of a clear-cut policy on Palestine, and of our intentions, if victorious, to put an end to anti-Semitic persecutions and of the Roman Catholic community in similar terms. These should not be difficult to pursue, nor to put over on the American public. We shall as before send over our leading literary lights and other men, with names well known in the United States to put our point of view over the dinner table… Conversely, we should exploit to the full the views and experiences of american nationals who might be serving in our forces… we should make much of them; decorate them; single them out for mention in dispatches, and in the press; and use their stories as propaganda material to their own people. This was a form of propaganda very ably developed by the French during the Great war. American newspaper men in London are of approved metal – and though impervious to any obvious propaganda, should nevertheless represent a valuable propaganda force on the strength of the day to day news they send over, quite apart from the fact that many of them like this country…’”

Coughlin continues “That is the end of the quotation. From what I have said, this conclusion my friends is crystal clear. Namely that the propaganda machine is already at work . The press, the cinema, well known citizens, are either wittingly or unwittingly conditioning America for war. The invasion is upon you! Racial and religious psychology is being employed to line up leaders. Catch words are being used as bait to deceive the masses. Once more therefore I restate, what are we Americans planning to do about this foreign invasion? An invasion not of soldiers armed with machine guns – but of professional propagandists to stand behind the remarks at the dinner table or assault you from the silver screen or the columms of a newspaper as they explode the bombs of poison gas over the countryside of our country. A neutrality to be effective in keeping us free from foreign entanglements must penalize those who are busy merchandising foreign entanglements in our midst.’ A sane parent would not welcome a leper in his home to live with his children. And a sane government that must not permit the lepers of propaganda to seek hospitality within our shores and thereby spread the disease of hate, of war, of murder, and of injustice amongst our innocent people! Oh yes, we have liberty of speech guaranteed to us by our Constitution. Nevertheless my friends we are not so simple-minded as to believe that free speech can be employed to destroy free speech.”

“That free speech can be employed to merchandise lies, murders, shell holes, corpses, and broken hearts for the loved ones left behind. Be not mistaken. The propagandists are at work in government, in journalism, and in the cinemas. forewarned is forearmed! …and fortunately, even the British publicists have been guilty of an eggregious error in permitting their handbook on propaganda to fall into our possession. Probably in future years, the book entitled ‘The Next War,’ not for sale, not published, sent only to British diplomats, .. and that portion of it entitled ‘Propaganda In The Next War’, will be regarded by the informed generations as the turning point in our attitude toward Great Britain and her invasion of propaganda . for those who are spending billions of dollars in an effort to condition others to fight Britain’s wars and to protect ill-gotten gains. As I said at the outset. it is not possible during this brief period to quote in full chapter 4 of the book to which I refer. But I shall print it and distribute it to every one in this audience who desires to possess a copy thereof. It is yours for the asking! It is a challenge to the warmongers in Washington, in London, in Hollywood and elsehere who would betray the best interests of America for a mess of foreign pottage tied up with the red ribbon of royalty.”

Fr. Coughlin ends the first part of his broadcast with an instrumental rendition of Ave Maria. The second half-hour is a beautiful address from Fr. Coughlin about Mother’s Day. The audio archive of Fr. Coughlin’s address entitled PropagandaAtWork can be found here, (along with many other great historical radio programs from Fr. Coughlin.) The direct MP3 link is here.

Please see the full LibertyFight.com Fr. Coughlin Archive page for much more, as we continue to present snippets of history from this great, historic religious and political leader.

Martin Hill is a Catholic paleoconservative and civil rights advocate. His work has been featured in the Los Angeles Daily News, San Gabriel Valley Tribune, The Orange County Register, KNBC4 TV Los Angeles, The Press Enterprise, LewRockwell.com, WhatReallyHappened.com, Infowars.com, PrisonPlanet.com, Economic Policy Journal, FreedomsPhoenix, Haaretz, TMZ, Veterans Today, Jonathan Turley blog, The Dr. Katherine Albrecht Show, National Motorists Association, AmericanFreePress.net, RomanCatholicReport.com, WorldNetDaily, OverdriveOnline.com, Educate-Yourself.org, TexeMarrs.com, Dr. Kevin Barrett’s Truth Jihad radio show, Strike-The-Root.com, Pasadena Weekly, ActivistPost.com, Los Angeles Catholic Lay Mission Newspaper, KFI AM 640, IamtheWitness.com, Redlands Daily Facts, BlackBoxVoting, The Michael Badnarik Show, The Wayne Madsen Report, Devvy.com, Rense.com, The Contra Costa Times, Pasadena Star News, Silicon Valley Mercury News, Long Beach Press Telegram, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, L.A. Harbor Daily Breeze, CopBlock.org, DavidIcke.com, Whittier Daily News, KCLA FM Hollywood, The Fullerton Observer, Antiwar.com, From The Trenches World Report, and many others. Archives can be found at LibertyFight.com and DontWakeMeUp.Org.

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