A groundbreaking biography of the twentieth century’s most powerful American Catholic, New York’s Francis Cardinal Spellman
Francis Cardinal Spellman, archbishop of New York from 1939 until his death in 1967, was the twentieth century’s most influential American Catholic. He wielded unparalleled spiritual and political power, his influence reaching from Rome to Washington, from Wall Street to Hollywood. He presided over a golden age for American Catholicism and was chaplain of America’s Cold War. We cannot understand twentieth-century America without reckoning with his legacy.
In this remarkable new biography, historian Vincent J. Cannato traces Spellman’s life of controversy and intrigue. In the 1920s, Spellman became the first American to work in the Vatican, befriending the future Pope Pius XII and building deep and unprecedented ties between the Holy See and American elites. His tenure in New York—where his Madison Avenue office was known as “the Powerhouse”—witnessed friendships and feuds with the Roosevelts, Joseph McCarthy, and the Kennedys. As he led the American Church through a period of unprecedented growth, Spellman was a player in every conflict and controversy from World War II to Vietnam.
Based on vast new archival research, The Cardinal is a masterly, evenhanded, and engrossing portrait of this powerful and enigmatic figure.