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.
Issues › Infrastructure & Public Works
Public works as employment policy
| Cycle | Candidate | Position | Solution | Strength | Attribution | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt (Democratic) | Public works spending is only a stopgap, not a cure for unemployment | Do not rely on huge federal, state and local public-works expenditure to solve unemployment; treat it as a temporary expedient and attack causes (farm purchasing power, mortgages, tariff) instead. Later superseded by the… | directional_stance | candidate_direct | reversed |
| 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt (Democratic) | Expand self-sustaining public works and temporary federal work (forests, flood control, waterways), with advance planning | Expand the federal program of "necessary and useful construction affected with a public interest" (flood control, waterways, the St. Lawrence deep waterway) as an emergency employment measure; works should be self-sustai… | specific_pledge | candidate_direct | kept |
| 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt (Democratic) | 'Employment for all surplus labor at all times' through self-liquidating public works (the Shearon letter, as Hoover read it) | A letter over Roosevelt's signature to Lowe Shearon, circulated among the unemployed, pledged support for self-liquidating public works — water resources, flood control, land reclamation — 'to provide employment for all … | specific_pledge | opponent_characterization | partial? |
| 1932 | Herbert Hoover (Republican) | Ratify the St. Lawrence seaway treaty and complete the inland waterway system | Secure Senate ratification of the July 1932 treaty with Canada and build the Great Lakes–St. Lawrence seaway, 'the greatest public improvement ever undertaken upon our continent'; continue the Mississippi and inland wate… | specific_pledge | candidate_direct | not_applicable |
| 1932 | Herbert Hoover (Republican) | Federal construction at three times normal and $1.5 billion of RFC loans for self-liquidating works — but no pork-barrel or non-productive projects | Maintain federal public works at $500–700 million a year and RFC loans up to $1,500 million for reproductive projects that repay themselves; oppose the $1,200 million Garner-Rainey bill and any works that 'never make a r… | specific_pledge | candidate_direct | not_applicable |
| 1932 | John Nance Garner (Democratic) | The Garner-Rainey $1.2 billion public-works bill — and a pledge to reintroduce it | 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. | specific_pledge | opponent_characterization | not_applicable |
| 1932 | Norman Thomas (Socialist) | A $5 billion federal public-works program — roads, reforestation, slum clearance, workers' housing — and idle factories and land turned over to the unemployed | Federal appropriation of $5,000,000,000 for public work and roads, reforestation, slum clearance and decent homes for workers, with states and cities; legislation turning over idle land, factories and equipment to unempl… | specific_pledge | party_platform | not_applicable |