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1932 › Franklin D. Roosevelt (Democratic) › Level of military spending

An adequate Army and Navy without a near-billion-dollar peacetime burden

pledge_forwarddirectional_stanceparty_platformevidence A Federal Budget & SpendingDefense & Military similar solutions · similar reasoning

Solution

Base the size of the Army and Navy on a fact survey of the existing establishments so that peacetime defense spending, "fast approaching a billion dollars annually," is reduced.

Rationale

Peacetime military expenditure is part of the excessive cost of government.

Statements (2)

1932-06-27 · Democratic National Convention, Chicago (platform) · conventionparty_platform ✓ verified

We advocate a Navy and an Army adequate for national defense, based on a survey of all facts affecting the existing establishments, that the people in time of peace may not be burdened by an expenditure fast approaching a billion dollars annually.

Source: 1932 Democratic Party Platform (1932-06-27)

1932-07-02 · Acceptance address, Democratic National Convention, Chicago · conventioncandidate_direct ✓ verified

That admirable document, the platform which you have adopted, is clear. I accept it 100 percent.

Blanket endorsement of every plank.

Source: Address Accepting the Presidential Nomination at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago (1932-07-02)

Follow-through

reversed

Instead of cutting the near-billion-dollar defense establishment, Roosevelt allotted $238 million of NIRA public-works money to warship construction in June 1933 and signed the Vinson-Trammell Act (March 1934) authorizing a treaty-strength navy — the largest peacetime naval program to that date. Army spending fell briefly under the Economy Act, then rose.

Mechanisms

Date	Type	Name	Effect	Consistent?	Source
1933-06-16	budget	NIRA public-works allotment for 32 warships charted on: Federal debt outstanding · Federal outlays as percent of GDP · Federal surplus or deficit (fiscal year)	$238 million from Title II funds.	no	Carl Vinson - Wikipedia
1934-03-27	statute	Vinson-Trammell Act charted on: Federal debt outstanding · Federal outlays as percent of GDP · Federal surplus or deficit (fiscal year)	In 1934, Vinson helped push the Vinson-Trammell Act, along with Democratic senator Park Trammell of Florida . The bill authorized the replacement of obsolete vessels by new construction and a gradual increase of ships within the limits of the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 and London Naval Treaty of 1930.	no	Carl Vinson - Wikipedia

Obstruction

war Japanese expansion after Manchuria and the collapse of the Geneva conference reversed the disarmament premise of the plank.

Assessments

reversed Wikipedia contributors — Carl Vinson - Wikipedia

Naval construction was accelerated, not reduced.

This was necessary, as per the Naval History and Heritage Command (the U.S. Navy's historical office), relatively few major warships were laid down in the US Navy during the Hoover administration , and the US Navy was both aging and losing ground to the Japanese Navy .

1932-fdr-military-spending-cut · created by claude-fable-5-1 · review: unreviewed