Powerhouse: Francis Cardinal Spellman (1889-1967) and America's Catholic Cold War

FAIN: FZ-272244-20

Vincent Cannato, PhD
University of Massachusetts, Boston (Boston, MA 02125-3300)

Research and writing leading to a biography of Archbishop Francis Cardinal Spellman (1889–1967) and his influence on religion, politics, and American life.

This book project is a political biography of Francis Cardinal Spellman, who served as New York's Catholic Archbishop from 1939 to 1967. Spellman was the most powerful American Catholic figure in the nation’s history and a leading international figure during World War Two and the Cold War. His life was filled with controversy and intrigue, and his influence was felt from Rome to Washington, Wall Street to Hollywood and across American military bases and wartime battlegrounds around the world.