Work in progress — cycles are added one at a time. Every quote is machine-verified against an archived source; follow the links to read it.
Alfred E. Smith vs John Nance Garner
| Issue | Alfred E. Smith | John Nance Garner |
|---|---|---|
| Regulation of banks and securities | — | RFC loans to individuals and corporations generally — 'the Government into personal banking' (the Rainey bill) specific_pledgenot_applicable Extend RFC lending beyond banks and railroads to any borrower with security, for any purpose; passed under Garner's leadership in July 1932 and vetoed by Hoover. |
| Overall role and scale of the federal government | War on any candidate who makes 'demagogic appeals to the masses' setting class against class directional_stancenot_applicable Oppose, and refuse to support, any Democratic candidate whose appeal sets 'class against class and rich against poor' — the 'forgotten man' politics of Roosevelt's April 7 broadcast; by implication, a campaign on repeal and business-friendly economics rather than redistribution. |
— |
| National Prohibition | Outright repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment — the issue Roosevelt was downplaying specific_pledgenot_applicable Repeal the Eighteenth Amendment, as Smith had urged since 1928; make repeal the central Democratic issue. |
— |
| Public works as employment policy | — | The Garner-Rainey $1.2 billion public-works bill — and a pledge to reintroduce it specific_pledgenot_applicable As Speaker, secured House passage (June 1932) of a $1,200 million public-works program covering 3,500 projects, plus RFC loans to states; announced he would introduce it again in the next session. |
| Tariff levels | Endorsement of the Smoot-Hawley tariff directional_stancenot_applicable Accept the 1930 tariff rather than campaign against it — the position Raskob tried to write into party policy in March 1931. |
— |
| Veterans' bonus and benefits | — | The Patman cash bonus and $2.3 billion of greenbacks, passed by the House under his speakership specific_pledgenot_applicable The House under Speaker Garner passed the Patman bill (June 15, 1932) paying the bonus in full immediately, financed by new Treasury notes; Hoover treated this as Garner's and the party's policy. |
| European war debts and reparations | A twenty-year moratorium on the war debts, writing them off in proportion to each nation's purchases of American goods specific_pledgenot_applicable Suspend intergovernmental debt payments for twenty years and cancel debt in proportion to the debtor's trade with the United States — converting the debts into an instrument for reviving exports. |
— |