Sinclair noted in I, Candidate that
the worst of the smear was generated by out-of-context quotations from
his 1917 book, The
Profits of Religion . Sinclair said:
The
greatest handicap I had to face in the campaign was "The Profits of
Religion." This book was written and published in 1917, in the midst of
the Word War, and has the bitterness universal at that time. I saw
millions of peasant boys being led out to slaughter in the interest of
the governing classes of Europe; I saw priests of Jesus blessing the
flags, and inciting the mass destruction of the human race. I sat down
to study religion from a new point of view--the use, or rather the
abuse which had been made of it, "as a source of income and a shield to
privilege". The book is a defense of true religion, its purpose being
to take the churches out of the hands of ruling classes and exploiters
of all kinds (I, Candidate 63).
Not only were Hearst and Mayer running amok with Sinclair's thirty
years of social criticism under the moniker of socialism, but even
Father
Coughlin withdrew his support from the EPIC Plan. When Sinclair met
with him while on the way back from his trip to meet FDR in Washington,
Coughlin strongly criticized Sinclair for his views on the Catholic
Church, and Christianity in general. Sinclair explained to Coughlin
that his views on religion were largely misunderstood, and Coughlin
said, "You may say that I am willing to forgive you for anything you
may have written against our church seventeen years ago. Tell them
about Paul who persecuted the Christians and later joined them."
Sinclair went on to say that Coughlin generally agreed with the EPIC
Plan. However, despite Coughlin's kind remarks at their meeting, once
the smear campaign by Hearst, Mayer, and their cronies hit full-swing,
Coughlin refused all contact from Sinclair (I, Candidate
100-102).
The "stop Sinclair" campaign was most effective. Not only were
quotations used out-of-context, but the smear was also aimed at
branding him a Communist, with strong ties to Bolshevism (though man
California Communist Party members were in support of Sinclair).
Neither of
which were true, but the damage was done. To further complicate the
campaign, the Republican incumbent, George Merriam, through a
complicated back-door deal with the Democratic party leaders via FDR,
pledged his support of the New Deal in order to swing votes away from
Sinclair (Hackett 38). The effects of the smear and of Merriam's
deal were apparent at 1934 election polls: 1,080,562 for
Merriam,
Republican; and 899,431 for Sinclair, Democrat (McEdwards 199).
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