Nazis of Copley Square The forgotten story of the Christian Front

Today, the Christian Front is a footnote in American history, but during the late 1930s and early 1940s in New York and Boston, it was a force to reckon with. Gallagher (Boston College) re-creates those heydays in this thought-provoking volume. He ably recounts the origins of the Christian Front beginning with the popularity of radio priest Father Charles Coughlin, who mobilized the Judeo-Bolshevik myth among Irish Catholics in New York and Boston. John Cassidy, a Christian Front organizer in New York, adopted violence and terrorism, but his Boston counterpart, Francis Moran, was far more successful in using propaganda and mass rallies to increase both ethnic and religious tensions in the city. Moran was so emboldened that he became an agent of influence and a spy for Nazi Germany. Civil authorities, including the FBI, failed to impede Moran's efforts, and it took one woman, Frances Sweeney, herself an Irish Catholic, to contribute to Moran's undoing. Although she never realized it, she was working for British intelligence. Gallagher's Nazis of Copley Square is an amazing whodunit that will keep readers glued to every page. Summing Up: Highly recommended. General readers through faculty; professionals. --Christopher C. Lovett, Emporia State University

Boston College history professor Gallagher (Vatican Secret Diplomacy) provides an eye-opening look at the Christian Front, a far-right political movement founded in 1939 in response to radio personality Fr. Charles Coughlin's call for an "advance guard in a holy war against Communists and Jews." Inspired by Coughlin, lay Catholics John F. Cassidy and Francis Moran led the New York and Boston branches of the Christian Front in the belief that defeating Judeo-Bolshevism was essential for the survival of Christianity. Cassidy planned terrorist attacks against Jewish-owned businesses in New York City, in a plot to incite a revolution and install a "temporary dictatorship" in the U.S., while Moran aided Nazi spies in America. In addition to delineating the Christian Front's concerted campaign against U.S. involvement in WWII, Gallagher links these past events to recent ones, noting that Moran, like President Trump's allies Michael Flynn and Paul Manafort, was investigated for being an unregistered agent of a foreign government. Gallagher also explains how the Christian Front's "interlac of Christianity and patriotism" influenced today's religious right, and analyzes how political extremists exploit free speech protections. This vigorously researched chronicle uncovers a dark chapter in American history. (Sept.)