During the Great Depression, the most dangerous man in America was a “radio priest” from Detroit. Father Charles Coughlin, a Catholic priest, broadcasting pioneer and celebrity, used his nationwide radio sermons to promote fascism and antisemitic conspiracy theories in the run-up to WWII. He became America’s first mass-media demagogue, cultivating a loyal following of violent Nazi gangs, and created a new method for spreading hate to the masses…that continues to be emulated today.
Journalist Andrew Lapin, a former Washington DC resident, is the creator and host of “Radioactive,” a podcast about Father Coughlin from Tablet Studios and the WNET Group. In this lecture, Lapin — who grew up near Coughlin’s church — will share clips from his podcast and insights from his research into Coughlin’s life and methods.
This event will take place at Temple Micah and on Zoom. To attend in-person, please register here. To join us online, please refer to your Temple Micah weekly email (you can sign up to receive our “Friends of Temple Micah” emails here), or contact the office.
Andrew Lapin is the Managing Editor for Local News for the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, and a writer, editor and podcaster with 10+ years of experience in journalism and publishing. Andrew has received the Rias Berlin journalism fellowship, the Tent Creative Writing Fellowship, the Young Critic’s Workshop fellowship at Film Fest Ghent, the Bear River Writing Conference Fellowship and the Hopwood Award for short fiction. He is also a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association.