Some context ...Coughlin was initially a powerful asset and supporter of Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal, but then became a political opponent, accusing him of being too friendly to bankers. In 1934, he and others established a political organization called the National Union for Social Justice, supported by many German and Scandinavian immigrant Americans. membership was in the millions behind an agenda of monetary reform, nationalization of major industries and railroads, protection of labor rights and like the national socialists in Germany very anti communist.
The 30's were an extraordinary time - Hitler was Time magazine man of the year in 1938 - and there was strong resistance to the USA entering an 'old country' war at the end of the decade. A rough equivalent to 'occupy wall street' in the mid 30's was obviously very anti banker and this was a large part of Coughlin's Catholic German appeal. (Many Irish catholics were heavily involved as well as Italian Americans who had Mussolini supposedly making the trains run on time while pushing back on some bankers).
The William Kovarik (Professor of Communication, Radford University) article was originally titled
'That time private US media companies stepped in to silence the falsehoods and incitements of a major public figure … in 1938'
in 'the Conversation' - the Smithsonian chose to re headline it.
1938 was a major turning point in US politics and as is the case today there was a major clamp down on free speech. This arguably subsequently partially resulted in the US entering WWII...
While that is an interesting article about differing opinions before Pearl Harbor, it conclusively states that public opinion was essentially unanimous afterward. It did not mention anything about censorship, so I’m still a little lost.
The parent article is describing the political tipping point in 1938 where the isolationists were removed from media, isolated (sic) and discredited as the interventionists became the dominant force in US politics.
From that point the US was aligned with the allies, organized and then officially launched lend lease arming of the allies in January 1941 before joining the european war in December of 1941.
Coughlin, Lindberg et al were vilified and lost their public voices.
Are we reading the same article? There is absolutely nothing in that link about anyone being censored, isolated, or discredited. It instead describes overall public opinion shifting as Germany took more of Europe and Britain held them at bay.
'...The firms silencing him were the broadcasters of the day.
As a media historian, I find more than a little similarity between the stand those stations took back then and the way Twitter, YouTube and Facebook have silenced false claims of election fraud and incitements to violence in the aftermath of the siege on the U.S. Capitol – noticeably by silencing the claims of Donald Trump and his supporters.'
The 30's were an extraordinary time - Hitler was Time magazine man of the year in 1938 - and there was strong resistance to the USA entering an 'old country' war at the end of the decade. A rough equivalent to 'occupy wall street' in the mid 30's was obviously very anti banker and this was a large part of Coughlin's Catholic German appeal. (Many Irish catholics were heavily involved as well as Italian Americans who had Mussolini supposedly making the trains run on time while pushing back on some bankers).
The William Kovarik (Professor of Communication, Radford University) article was originally titled
'That time private US media companies stepped in to silence the falsehoods and incitements of a major public figure … in 1938' in 'the Conversation' - the Smithsonian chose to re headline it.
1938 was a major turning point in US politics and as is the case today there was a major clamp down on free speech. This arguably subsequently partially resulted in the US entering WWII...
https://theconversation.com/that-time-private-us-media-compa...