This dissertation has been 63-2541 microfilmed exactly as received POWELL, David Owen, 1932- THE UNION PARTY OF 1936. The Ohio State University, Ph.D. , 1962 History, modern University Microfilms, Inc., A nn Arbor, Michigan THE UNION PARTY OF 1936 DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate. School of The Ohio S ta te U n iv ersity By David Owen Powell, B. A., M. A. ******* The Ohio State University 1962 Approved by Adviser Department of History ( ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to thank the many persons who have assisted me in the preparation of this dissertation. I am especially indebted to Professor Elmer Weitz of Grove City College, who first suggested the topic of this study; to my adviser, Professor Foster Rhea Dulles, who has always given me valuable criticism as well as timely encouragement; to Professor Robert H. Bremner and Professor Eugene H. Roseboom, who were kind enough to read the entire manuscript and to offer many helpful suggestions; and to the library staffs at The Ohio State University, the University of North Dakota, and Hope College, who have helped me obtain the various materials necessary in my research. i i CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS........................................................................................................ i i INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................. 1 PART I . THE BASIS FOR UNITY Chapter I . FATHER COUGHLIN...................................................................................... 4 I I . DR. TCWNSEND AND REVEREND SM IT H .................................................... 29 I I I . REPRESENTATIVE LEMKE.............................................................................. 57 PART I I . THE FORMATION OF A NEW PARTY IV. THE ROAD TO U N IO N .................................................................................. 80 V. REACTION AND RESPONSE......................................................................... 107 V I. ORGANIZATIONAL PROBLEMS..................................................................... 133 PART I I I . THE CAMPAIGN AND ELECTION V II. CAMPAIGN TACTICS AND IS S U E S ............................................................ 149 V III. DIVERSION, DISUNION, AND DEFEAT.................................................... 168 IX. EPILOGUE........................................................................................................ 197 BIBLIOGRAPHY............................................................................................................. 207 AUTOBIOGRAPHY............................................................................................................. 214 i l l INTRODUCTION The birth of the Union party was announced by Representative William Lemke of North Dakota at a Washington press conference on June 19» 1936. At the same time, Lemke made public the new party*s platform and declared that he would be its presidential candidate and that Thomas C. O'Brien of Boston would be his running mate, A few hours after Lemke's announcement, Father Charles E. Coughlin told a nation-wide radio audience that he would support the new party and its candidates during the coming election. Several weeks later, Dr. Francis E. Townsend and th e Reverend Gerald L. K. Smith agreed to campaign on Lemke*s b e h a lf. Although Lemke also promised that a national convention of interested groups would be held later in the summer to organize the party and approve the candidates and platform, no such meeting ever took place. The nature of the union which this party represented has generally been misunderstood. It has usually been assumed that it was an attempt to bring about a merger of Coughlin's National Union for Social Justice, Townsend's Old-Age Revolving Pension organization. Smith's followers from the late Huey Long's Share-Our-Wealth Society, and Lemke's agrarian supporters, and to integrate their respective economic programs. Actually, however, the four leaders of the Union party were united in only a very narrow and restricted sense and never attempted any real amalgamation of their individual organizations or programs. The defeat of Franklin D. Roosevelt in the election of 1936 was the main issue upon 1 which the Union party was founded and upon which its campaign was conducted. It was only upon this negative idea that these four men could unite; they had little else in common. Like the Whigs during the days of Andrew Jackson, the leaders of the Union party of 1936 found unity only in common opposition to the man in the White House. In order to understand the origin and formation of the Union party, it is necessary, therefore, to examine in some detail the public careers of Coughlin, Townsend, Smith, and Lemke with particular emphasis upon the period between the presidential elections of 1932 and 1936. In the former year, these four men had neither the potential political power nor a valid reason for forming a third party. Although Lemke and Coughlin had attracted some national recognition, both were warm sup­ porters of Roosevelt; Townsend and Smith, on the other hand, were unknown nationally at that time and had no voice in the world of politics. Yet, four years later, each of these men had become a public figure with a nation-wide following estimated in the millions; moreover, each of them was eager by 1936 to bring about the defeat of President Roosevelt. PART I THE BASIS FOR UNITY 3 CHAPTER I FATHER COUGHLIN Father Charles E. Coughlin's early life did not differ signifi­ cantly from that of many young priests. Born in 1891 in Hamilton, Ontario, he was the son of Catholic parents of Irish ancestry. At the age of twelve, he left the security of his home, where he had received the attention usually showered upon an only child, and entered St. Michael's, a Catholic institution federated with the University of Toronto. There he concluded his high school education and subsequently studied classics on the college level. During these years, he was recognized as a well-rounded student whose "oratorical ability, fluency of tongue, and quick wit" were outstanding. Under the influence of the Basilian fathers at St. Michael's, young Coughlin decided to enter St. Basil's seminary to study for the priesthood.^ Following his ordination in 1916, the young priest spent seven years as an instructor in philosophy at Assumption College in western Ontario where he came under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Detroit, the Right Reverend Michael J. Gallagher. In 1926, after several ^luth Mugglebee, Father Coughlin of the Shrine of the Little Flower: An Account of the Life. Work and Message of Reverend Charles E. Coughlin (Boston, 1933)» 1235 Louis B. Ward, Father Charles E. Coughlin (Detroit, 1933). 15-16. Unless otherwise cited, the material on Coughlin's early life is based upon these two authorized biographies. temporary assignments in churches of the Detroit Diocese, Father Coughlin was sent by Bishop Gallagher to Royal Oak, a growing suburb thirteen miles north of Detroit, to erect a church and shrine in honor of the recently canonized St. Therese. It was at Royal Oak that Father Coughlin entered upon the radio career which was to make him one of the most popular and powerful public figures of the 1930's and perhaps the most controversial Roman Catholic priest in American history. Looking for a way to improve the financial condition of his tiny parish of thirty-two families and to combat the religious bigotry which the Ku Klux Klan was spreading in Royal Oak and the Detroit area, Father Coughlin hit upon the idea of broadcasting a religious program over the radio. Encouraged by the lull support of his Bishop, Coughlin made arrangements with Leo Fitzpatrick, manager of WJR, a small independent Detroit station, to broadcast a sermon every Sunday direct from the Shrine of the Little Flower, the small frame church which had been erected shortly after his arrival at Royal Oak. October 17, 1926 may be said to mark the beginning of Coughlin's public career, for it was upon that date that he presented his first sermon over the air. During these early years of local broadcasting from 1926 to 1929. the programs emanating from the Shrine were religious in nature and usually dealt with complicated theological questions. "We avoid prejudicial subjects, all controversies, and especially all bigotry," the priest told a reported for the Detroit Free Press in 1927. The weekly sermons were an immediate success; in the words of the manager of WJR "Father Coughlin clicked." His warm personality, his pleasing Irish 6 brogue, his simple and direct style plus the fact that he was the first Roman Catholic priest to make use of the relatively new and exciting medium of radio, all contributed to his initial triumph on the air. To defray the costs of broadcasting and to raise funds for the construction of a permanent shrine in Royal Oak, Father Coughlin relied upon contri­ butions from his listeners, who began almost immediately to form Leagues 2 of the Little Flower in the Detroit area. For three years, the priest was content with his local success and watched with satisfaction as his parish expanded, the power of the Klan waned, and plans were laid for a magnificent shrine in honor of St. Therese. However, he was basically an ambitious young man and yearned to extend the range of his radio voice; therefore, in the fall of 1929, he negotiated through Fitzpatrick to broadcast his weekly