Eugenio Pacelli's 1936 visit to the United States

[3][4] Pacelli planned to silence Coughlin for Roosevelt in exchange for his support against Communism and, more importantly, in an attempt to achieve diplomatic recognition of the sovereignty of Vatican City.

[7] Pacelli arrived in New York on October 8 and first met with Cardinal Patrick Joseph Hayes and Apostolic Delegate Amleto Giovanni Cicognani, along with many other Catholic bishops, clergy members, and prominent laymen.

[9] While in New York, Pacelli met with Nicholas Murray Butler, the president of Columbia University,[8] and celebrated a pontifical Mass in St. Patrick's Cathedral.

After being greeted by Archbishop Michael J. Curley and a gathering of Baltimore clergy, he went immediately to the Cathedral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, where they knelt in prayer at the main altar for several minutes and then visited the crypt of Cardinal James Gibbons.

[19] Pacelli then embarked on a five-day coast-to-coast air tour covering seven cities, departing from Roosevelt Field on Long Island on a plane chartered from United Airlines.

[20] Accompanying Pacelli on the plane were Bishop Spellman, Basil Harris, the VP of United States Lines, Galeazzo, Cavenaugh, Kelly, and one of Mrs. Brady's advisers.

[24] Arriving finally in New York, Pacelli said Mass at the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola and received another honorary doctorate from Fordham University.

[20] Pacelli met with Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia and former Governor Alfred E. Smith before departing on the SS Conte di Savoia, which was waiting at Pier 59, on November 6.

[29] According to D'Agostino, "historians have neglected to consider how Pacelli's visit communicated to observers that the Holy See and Fascist Italy shared a special relationship".

[30] At the wishes of Foreign Minister Count Galeazzo Ciano, Mussolini's son-in-law, Italian consular officials were invited to dine with Pacelli when he joined the Cardinals of Philadelphia, Boston, and Chicago.

Roosevelt wanted help quelling the Catholic radio priest Father Charles Coughlin, who preached weekly and subversively to an audience of fifteen million Americans".

[4] Although Dalin claims that Coughlin's (and thus Pacelli's) role in the presidential election was potentially decisive, Roosevelt's victory was in fact a foregone landslide (carrying every state but Maine and Vermont).