Father Coughlin was a real-life priest and radio host who amassed a massive nationwide audience during the Great Depression. He publicly advocated fascist policies, spread extreme anti-Semitism, and built an enormous political movement called the National Union for Social Justice. He inspired the character of Bishop Prang and his “League of Forgotten Men” in It Can’t Happen Here.
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Father Charles Coughlin Character Timeline in It Can’t Happen Here
The timeline below shows where the character Father Charles Coughlin appears in It Can’t Happen Here. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 4
...people listen to his weekly radio show, which is modeled after the famous radio priest Father Charles Coughlin —who learned to mass-produce culture just like Henry Ford mass-produced cars. Prang is fickler and...
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Chapter 15
...though his title is honorary and he has no actual military experience). Bishop Prang and Father Coughlin both turn down posts in the government, but Dr. Macgoblin will fill a new position,...
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