Winner of the Pennsylvania Historical Association's Phillip S. Klein Book Prize for 2000

"In this lively and informative account of 1930s Pittsburgh, the smoky centre of the American iron and steel industry, Heineman shows that much of the effective union building, and many social reforms, were achieved by Catholic clergy and laity, inspired by papal teachings on social justice. Heineman has a confident, lucid style and guides the reader through the labyrinthine politics of the period, showing the connections between local, national and international issues as the Second World War approached. In his sure hands, the New Deal era takes on a surprisingly different appearance, more imbued with religious activism than previous historians have supposed...Heineman has a confident, lucid style and guides the reader through the labyrinthine politics of the period, showing the connections between local, national and international issues as the Second World War approached. In his sure hands, the New Deal era takes ona surprisingly different appearance, more imbued with religious activism than previous historians have supposed."—Patrick Allitt, The Times Literary Supplement

“In this richly detailed study of those leaders of Catholic, ethnic, working-class Pittsburgh, Heineman contributes solidly to the expanding evidence of the centrality of Catholic reformers in the emergence of the New Deal and American welfare.” —Dorothy M. Brown, The Journal of American History

“In this impressive new study, Kenneth J. Heineman reports on what the church did in Pittsburgh, a city dominated by big steel and ethnic Catholicism. . . . Heineman has written an excellent study of labor activism and a tonic for those who would argue that the church repressed the labor movement in the twentieth century.” —Timothy Walch, American Historical Review

“To satisfy this need, he has written A Catholic New Deal, an eye-opening and and compelling narrative of the role of ethnic Pittsburgh Catholics in building and sustaining a reform-minded Democratic party and a millitant union movement during the Depression. His work more than amply shows how Catholic ideas, leaders, and workers contributed to reform politics and unionization during the thirties...This pathbreaking book deserves a serious reading by anyone attempting to understand American Catholicism, ethnic history, reform politics, or the successful University of St. Thomas.” —David L. Holloway, American Studies

Our popular image of the era of the Great Depression is one of bread lines, labor wars, and leftist firebrands. Absent from this picture are religiously motivated social reformers, notably Catholic clergy and laity. In A Catholic New Deal, Kenneth Heineman rethinks the religious roots of labor organizing and social reform in America during the 1930s. He focuses on Pittsburgh, the leading industrial city of the time, a key center for the rise of American labor, and a critical Democratic power base, thanks in large part to Mayor David Lawrence and the Catholic vote.

Despite the fact that Catholics were the core of the American industrial working class in the 1930s, historians (and many contemporary observers) have underestimated or ignored the religious component of labor activism in this era. In fact, many labor historians have argued that workers could not have formed successful industrial unions without first severing their religious ties. Heineman disputes this, arguing that there would have been no steelworkers union without Pittsburgh Catholics such as James Cox, Patrick Fagan, Carl Hensler, Phil Murray, and Charles Owen Rice. He presents a complex portrait of American Catholicism in which a large number of activist priests and laity championed a distinctly Catholic vision of social justice. This vision was anti-communist, anti-fascist, and anti-laissez faire. These Catholics, in turn, helped to make the Democratic Party and the CIO powerful organizations. A Catholic New Deal shows conclusively the important role that religion played in the history of organized labor in America.