Quiz - Nazis of Copley Square

Question 1

WWI in June 1940

Answer 1

UK/British Commonwealth alone facing Germany, Italy, and Japan
–> France surrenders; USSR still in non-aggression pact with Germany

Question 2

Herbert Scholz during the war

Answer 2

German embassy, consulates closed by FDR in summer of 1941
–> Scholz reassigned to legation in Hungary, then to Northern Italy
–> interrogated after war by US Army Counter Intelligence Corps, then US Justice Department official; stuck to cover story of diplomat role and was believed
–> outplayed Captain James Jesus Angleton (would later be CIA’s counterintelligence chief); lived in Argentina, then West Germany
–> received German diplomatic pension in 1958

Question 3

ultimate downfall of Christian Front

Answer 3

Pearl Harbor & entrance into war; Moran drafted, death of Sweeney, and dissolution of the group

Question 4

Charles R. Gallagher

Answer 4

author of The Nazis of Copley Square
–> associate professor of history at Boston College
–> first scholar to document role of Nazi intelligence in Boston

Question 5

FBI informant in Christian Front

Answer 5

codename T-1; worked in Charlestown Naval Base, fluent in German
–> apparent penetration into Christian Front, but was too scared to ever taken the stand against Moran in trial

Question 6

Heinrich Bruning

Answer 6

former German chancellor (1930-1932); in exile at Harvard during onset of WWI
–> spouting anti-Nazi sentiments; target of Scholz’s attempts to silence

Question 7

isolationism

Answer 7

movement in America pre-WWI and WWII
–> ask to stay out of European war
–> supported heavily by Irish Americans (& Irish Catholics)
–> huge especially before Pearl Harbor

Question 8

relationship between Moran and Scholz

Answer 8

Moran recruited because of ability to speak German; supposed to promote Nazi propaganda, espionage
–> provided with direction and funds during speaking tours across East Coast

Question 9

Boston College during Christian Front

Answer 9

Jesuit university; at least intellectually supportive of movement

Question 10

German consulate in Boston

Answer 10

39 Chestnut Street, Beacon Hill
–> held first meeting between Moran and Scholz in June 1940
–> supposedly lined with lead on first floor, so FBI could not listen in

Question 11

was US aware of MI6 influence on Christian Front?

Answer 11

General Donovan had a very close relationship with William Stephenson, chief of MI6…very likely
–> Donovan had been FDR’s emissary on trips to UK, where he had met “Intrepid”
–> Donovan probably would have supported anti-isolationism (e.g. Lend-Lease Act)

Question 12

Christian Front in Boston

Answer 12

–> support among high Irish Catholic, working-class population
–> headquarters on second floor of Copley Square Hotel (same place where Babe Ruth lived during time on Red Sox)

Question 13

Spanish Civil War

Answer 13

Republicans (support of USSR) vs. Franco & followers (support of Germany, Italy)
–> Church has major institutional power in Spain; Republicans kill about 10% of all priests
–> Italians provide most aid to Franco; Germans provide technology, including planes that help practice blitzkrieg style for WWII
–> Franco wins, has party in power until 1975

Question 14

surveillance of Christian Front

Answer 14

performed by law enforcement –> FBI, army and navy intelligence, Boston police, OSS; also done on German consulate
–> never tied Moran to Nazis or understand Scholz’s purpose in Boston

Question 15

where is Copley Square?

Answer 15

Back Bay neighborhood of Boston; near Boylston and Clarendon Streets

Question 16

Dr. Herbert Scholz

Answer 16

German consulate in Boston (1938-1941); operations officer for Moran, orchestrator of isolationist-encouraging plans; elite Schutzstaffel officer
–> supposedly “demoted” to Boston from embassy in D.C., “blotting his copy book”
–> tasked with handling/reining in Heinrich Bruning
–> too young to join military in WWI; joined Freikorps (paramilitary quasi-Nazis), then Brownshirts; PhD at University of Leipzig in Nazi philosophy; headquarters aide in the SS

Question 17

Father Charles Coughlin

Answer 17

“founding father of hate radio”
–> active in 1930s; drew tens of millions of listeners
–> strong supporter of isolationism, anti-Semitism

Question 18

how did British intelligence find out about Christian Front?

Answer 18

unknown…maybe through similar wiretapping as to Zimmerman telegram?

Question 19

title of book

Answer 19

The Nazis of Copley Square: The Forgotten Story of the Christian Front

Question 20

who was MI6’s cutout?

Answer 20

unknown –> had to be trusted by MI6 and Frances Sweeney
–> Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.? had studied at U. of Cambridge and would have ideologically been anti-Nazi

Question 21

Gallagher’s influence to write book

Answer 21

undergrad student receiving training in semi-automatic weaponry (intending to join police)
–> recognized men in a photograph as members of Christian Front; they attempted to overthrow US gov’t in 1940, charged with seditious conspiracy, then exonerated

Question 22

British intelligence

Answer 22

MI5: internal (BSS)
MI6: external (SIS)

Question 23

why did Irish Catholics support U.S. isolationism?

Answer 23

distaste for British after inadequate response to potato famine; unwillingness to ally with a past enemy

Question 24

Arnold Lunn

Answer 24

British scholar, journalist; Catholic convert in 1930s
–> spurned by atrocities committed against Catholic clergy in Spanish Civil War
–> believed Christians needed to join forces to oppose communism

Question 25

America First Committee

Answer 25

founded in 1940; included several members of Congress, Charles Lindbergh

Question 26

Christian Front

Answer 26

established in US in 1939, in part by Coughlin
–> inspired by Arnold Lunn; opposition to communism, as well as anti-Semitism (“Judeo-Bolshevism”)
–> about 100,000 members along East Coast, primarily in Boston, NYC, and Philadelphia; mostly white men

Question 27

Catholic doctrines believed by Christian Front

Answer 27

–> “mystical body of Christ”: all Catholics part of one body, so injury to one = injury to all
–> “Catholic action”: doing good works in the world = church’s work, deserving of institutional recognition

Question 28

Francis Moran

Answer 28

Irish-American leader of Boston’s Christian Front (from Dorchester)
–> “ideal spy and agent of influence”
–> devout Catholic, articulate public speaker, educated by German priests & fluent in German
–> wartime: was drafted into “troublemakers” unit of US Army, then worked as reference librarian in Boston
–> MICE: ideology, money, some ego

Question 29

Frances Sweeney

Answer 29

journalist, Irish-American Catholic; staunch opponent of racism, fascism, and anti-Semitism
–> self-published “Boston City Reporter”
–> founded Irish-American Defense Association
–> supposedly unaware of British intelligence connection to her funding (thought money came from disgusted Americans)
–> died June 19, 1944 (age 36) from heart failure
–> MICE: ideology, some money (?)

Question 30

British intelligence vs. Christian Front

Answer 30

“largely successfully covert action to counter the Christian Front in Boston”
–> funding through cut-out to Frances Sweeney

Question 31

January 1942

Answer 31

Sweeney’s probes led Boston police to raid Christian Front
–> thousands of books, pamphlets seized
–> Moran threatened with arrest for selling unpatriotic publications