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.
Earl Browder vs Alf Landon
| Issue | Earl Browder | Alf Landon |
|---|---|---|
| Teachers' loyalty oaths and academic freedom | — | No loyalty oath for teachers that is not required of all citizens specific_pledgenot_applicable Declared 'flatly against any oath for school teachers not required of all other citizens' -- a break with Hearst and the Legion. |
| Farm prices and agricultural surplus | — | Cash benefits on the domestically consumed portion of export crops to make the tariff effective, limited to the family-type farm; no scarcity program, no processing tax specific_pledgenot_applicable Replace the AAA/soil-conservation 'subterfuge' with payments giving growers of hogs, wheat, cotton and tobacco 'an American and not a foreign price', capped at family-farm production levels, financed within a balanced budget; protect the home market. |
| Antitrust and concentration of economic power | — | Use the full power of the federal government to break up private monopolies and enforce the antitrust laws 'without fear or favor' directional_stancenot_applicable Vigorous criminal and civil enforcement plus new legislation to make private monopoly impossible; restore a free competitive system instead of NRA-style government-sanctioned price fixing. |
| Civil service and patronage | — | Restore, improve and extend the merit system 'virtually destroyed by New Deal spoilsmen' directional_stancenot_applicable Return the civil service to a merit basis offering permanent careers irrespective of party; remove politicians from administrative jobs. |
| Right to organize and bargain collectively | — | Government as umpire and mediator; develop conciliation instead of rushing disputes to the President's doorstep vague_gesturenot_applicable Keep government in the position of umpire protecting the public interest and mediating between groups; build effective conciliation machinery. Labor's right to organize in any union it prefers, free from coercion by employer, fellow employee or anyone else; organizers' lawful activity protected directional_stancenot_applicable Protect self-organization and collective bargaining 'without interference from any source', with the employee equally free to join or refuse to join absent a contract; after Norman Thomas's inquiry, affirm that organizers may lawfully enter unorganized industries. |
| Conservation of natural resources | — | Real soil conservation and a national land-use and flood-prevention program run with the States and 'out of politics' directional_stancenot_applicable Cash payments for actual conservation performance where farmers cannot afford it, State participation with local administration by farmers, linked to water conservation and flood control, without penalizing dairy and livestock producers. |
| Amending the Constitution to enlarge (or restrain) federal power | — | Wages, hours and child labor by State law and interstate compact -- and a constitutional amendment giving the States power if the courts forbid specific_pledgenot_applicable Support State laws and compacts against sweatshops and child labor 'within the Constitution as it now stands'; if working conditions cannot be regulated by the States, favor an amendment giving the States the necessary powers. Change only by amendment, never by usurpation. |
| Crop insurance and storage reserves | — | Give crop insurance 'the fullest attention' vague_gesturenot_applicable Study and develop crop insurance, a subject 'in neither platform', building on Kansas experience. |
| Gold standard and currency basis | — | Sound currency 'at all hazards'; no further devaluation; repeal the laws delegating the money power to the Executive specific_pledgenot_applicable Restore to Congress the power to coin money and regulate its value by repealing the gold-devaluation, greenback and stabilization-fund delegations; cooperate on international stabilization when safe. |
| Drought and disaster relief for farmers | — | Pay every outstanding AAA check and continue drought relief checks and seed loans specific_pledgenot_applicable Fulfill all obligations the administration made with farmers who carried out their end; continue relief checks, seed loans and other aid to drought-hit farmers until they can raise a crop, 'promptly' and without politics. |
| National economic planning | — | End federal regimentation: no revival of NRA or AAA controls, no more emergency powers over production, wages and hours directional_stancenot_applicable Free enterprise 'from incessant governmental intimidation'; refuse national economic planning that tells farmers what to plant and workers how many hours to work; make the President answer whether he will re-enact NRA and AAA. |
| On-farm storage, warehouse receipts and commodity credit | — | Amend the warehousing act so grain stored on the farm earns a federal warehouse receipt and bank credit specific_pledgenot_applicable Let the farmer who stores insurable grain on his farm borrow from any bank against a federal warehouse receipt, so feed reserves are carried on the farm and surpluses evened out. |
| Balancing the federal budget | — | Balance the budget by cutting expenditures, not by raising taxes specific_pledgenot_applicable Stop 'the folly of uncontrolled spending'; balance the budget 'drastically and immediately' by cutting out foolish experiments (a billion dollars 'any time it wanted to') while protecting relief allotments. |
| Flood control and river-basin development | — | Federal construction of head-water storage basins to prevent floods, with the consent of the States concerned specific_pledgenot_applicable Federal flood-control works subject to approval of State legislatures and executives. |
| Reorganization of the executive branch | — | Cooperate with Congress to reorganize agencies, abolish unnecessary ones and eliminate duplication directional_stancenot_applicable An 'effective reorganization of the numerous Government agencies' to save taxpayers' money; appoint 'those men best qualified' and hold them responsible. |
| Overall role and scale of the federal government | — | Restore confidence by 'unshackling initiative': steady, open, non-partisan administration that stops 'fumbling with recovery' vague_gesturenot_applicable Replace uncertainty with a steady hand: make policies public, use the best talent irrespective of party, stop 'spending for spending's sake' and government competition with private payrolls. |
| Independence of the Supreme Court | — | An independent Supreme Court secure from executive or legislative invasion; maintain the balance between States and nation directional_stancenot_applicable Resist all attempts to impair the Court's authority; keep within the Constitution; oppose the lodging of reserved powers in the Chief Executive. |
| Neutrality, arms embargoes and staying out of foreign wars | — | Promote peace by all honorable means; no League, no World Court, no plan that could involve the U.S. in a war it had no part in beginning directional_stancenot_applicable International arbitration through independent tribunals; arms limitation; no foreign alliances or political commitments. |
| Equal rights and opportunity for Black Americans | — | Equal opportunity for colored citizens: protect their economic status and personal safety; further their employment directional_stancenot_applicable Employment in private industry, agriculture, emergency agencies and the civil service; protection of personal safety. |
| Communism, radicalism and "alien isms" as a political issue | Popular Front: nominal opposition to Roosevelt, real opposition to Landon and 'fascism' vague_gesturenot_applicable Run a Communist ticket while treating the defeat of the Republican-Liberty League right as the objective. |
— |
| Executive reciprocal trade agreements (1934 Act) | — | Repeal the Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act; return treaty power to the Senate and tariff-making to Congress specific_pledgenot_applicable Repeal the 1934 Act as 'futile and dangerous', restore the flexible tariff and Tariff Commission, and require that trade treaties be ratified by the Senate or tariff changes enacted by Congress. |
| Politics and patronage in relief administration | — | Relief will continue, but purged of politics, administered locally on merit, with economies taken from 'the political exploiters' specific_pledgenot_applicable Federal grants-in-aid to States while need exists, relief run by non-political local agencies, staff chosen on merit, public works separated from relief; nobody in need to go without. |
| Regulation of securities issuance and exchanges | — | Keep federal regulation of securities marketing and interstate utilities, vested in independent tribunals under definite standards subject to court review directional_stancenot_applicable Accept the field of salutary regulation but lodge it in independent commissions acting under 'clear and specific laws.' |
| How to finance old-age and unemployment insurance (contributory reserve vs. pay-as-you-go) | — | Repeal the compulsory old-age insurance plan; pay every needy citizen over 65 a pension from a direct, widely distributed tax specific_pledgenot_applicable Repeal the payroll-tax insurance titles; amend the needy-aged title so every citizen over 65 gets the supplementary payment needed for a minimum income, financed pay-as-you-go by 'a direct tax widely distributed' and federal grants matching State contributions. |
| Tariff levels | — | Protect the farmer against imports of livestock, dairy and farm products; keep non-competing goods on the free list directional_stancenot_applicable Maintain protection on all commodities competing with American farms and industries, including quarantine against imports from countries with weaker sanitary rules; keep free-list items free. |
| Unemployment insurance | — | Leave unemployment insurance to State experiment; no federal tax to compel it specific_pledgenot_applicable Encourage 'honest and practical' State unemployment insurance laws; repeal the federal payroll-tax device that forces States to adopt systems. |
| European war debts and reparations | — | Use every effort to collect the war debts due from foreign countries directional_stancenot_applicable Reopen negotiations on the roughly $12 billion of defaulted war debts. |
| Federal youth work and education programs (CCC, NYA) | — | Continue the Civilian Conservation Corps, add education fitting enrollees for private jobs, and take the politicians out of its administration specific_pledgenot_applicable Keep the CCC as a tide-over, not a permanent occupation; add educational programs and advancement on merit for 'the C. C. C. boys themselves.' |