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1932 › Franklin D. Roosevelt (Democratic) › Reorganization of the executive branch

A long-range plan consolidating the federal government's scattered public-health and welfare agencies

pledge_forwardspecific_pledgecandidate_directevidence A Executive PowerHealthRelief, Welfare & Social Insurance similar solutions · similar reasoning

Solution

Inaugurate "a definite long-range plan for dealing with all phases of public health and welfare" that are a proper federal concern, consolidating the "multiplicity of unrelated agencies," on the New York model.

Rationale

Hit-or-miss agencies waste men and money; three Republican campaigns promised reorganization and did nothing.

Statements (1)

1932-10-13 · Radio address on unemployment and social welfare, Albany · generalcandidate_direct ✓ verified

I propose to inaugurate a definite long-range plan for dealing with all phases of public health and welfare, which are a proper concern of the Federal Government.

Source: Radio Address on Unemployment and Social Welfare From Albany, New York (1932-10-13)

Follow-through

partial

No consolidated health-and-welfare plan was enacted in the first term; the 1937 reorganization bill failed and the 1939 Reorganization Act created the Federal Security Agency grouping Social Security, the Public Health Service and the Office of Education.

Mechanisms

Date	Type	Name	Effect	Consistent?	Source
1939-04-03	statute	Reorganization Act of 1939 / Federal Security Agency charted on: Unemployment rate (BLS, 1948–) · Unemployment rate (NBER series, 1929–1942)		partly	Franklin D. Roosevelt: Domestic Affairs \| Miller Center

Obstruction

congress The 1937 reorganization bill was bottled up amid 'dictator' charges. source

Assessments

partial William E. Leuchtenburg — Franklin D. Roosevelt: Domestic Affairs | Miller Center

Reorganization authority was won in 1939 after a failed 1937 attempt.

But in 1939, Congress did pass a reorganization bill that created the Executive Office of the President (EOP) and allowed FDR to shift a number of executive agencies (including the Bureau of the Budget) to its watch.

Other positions on this issue

Consolidate the seven federal farm-mortgage agencies under a single purpose — Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1932 specific_pledge
Reorganize the Department of Agriculture as the machinery for national agricultural planning — Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1932 specific_pledge
Cooperate with Congress to reorganize agencies, abolish unnecessary ones and eliminate duplication — Alf Landon, 1936 directional_stance

1932-fdr-reorganize-federal-health-welfare · created by claude-fable-5-1 · review: unreviewed