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1932 › Franklin D. Roosevelt (Democratic) › Public works as employment policy
Expand self-sustaining public works and temporary federal work (forests, flood control, waterways), with advance planning
pledge_forwardspecific_pledgecandidate_directevidence A Infrastructure & Public WorksRelief, Welfare & Social Insurance⚡ The Great Depression similar solutions · similar reasoning
Solution
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-sustaining so bond financing is sound; adopt advance planning of public works.
Rationale
Public works are a legitimate emergency stimulus to employment, but "no economic end is served if we merely build without building for a necessary purpose."
Position chain: Public works spending is only a stopgap, not a cure for unemployment
Statements (10)
expansion of the federal program of necessary and useful construction
we advocate advance planning of public works.
That admirable document, the platform which you have adopted, is clear. I accept it 100 percent.
Blanket endorsement of every plank.
I have favored the use of certain types of public works as a further emergency means of stimulating employment and the issuance of bonds to pay for such public works, but I have pointed out that no economic end is served if we merely build without building for a necessary purpose. Such works, of course, should insofar as possible be self-sustaining if they are to be financed by the issuing of bonds.
From the long-range point of view it would be advisable for Governments of all kinds to set up in times of prosperity what might be called a nest egg to be used for public works in times of depression.
One is by the sale of bonds. In principle such bonds should be issued only to pay for self-sustaining projects or for structures which will without question have a useful life over a long period of years.
I am confident that the Federal Government working in cooperation with States and cities can do much to carry on increased public works and along lines which are sound from the economic and financial point of view.
In addition to providing emergency relief, the Federal Government should and must provide temporary work wherever that is possible. You and I know that in the national forests, on flood prevention, and on the development of waterway projects that have already been authorized and planned but not yet executed, tens of thousands, and even hundreds of thousands of our unemployed citizens can be given at least temporary employment.
The furthest the campaign went toward federal work relief; compare the April 'stopgap' position.
Third, the Federal Government should expedite the actual construction of public works already authorized.
The second, the advance planning of public works, again calls for a strong lead on the part of the Government at Washington. I pledge my administration to the adoption of that principle, both as to enterprises of the Federal Government itself and as to construction within the several States which is made possible by Federal aid
Follow-through
kept
NIRA Title II created the Public Works Administration with $3.3 billion; the CWA and WPA followed. The 'self-sustaining' and bond-financed qualifiers were largely dropped — works were financed from general borrowing — and a National Planning Board (1933) institutionalized advance planning.
Mechanisms
| Date | Type | Name | Effect | Consistent? | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1933-06-16 | statute | NIRA Title II — Public Works Administration | A careful survey convinces me that approximately $3,300,000,000 can be invested in useful and necessary public construction, and at the same time put the largest possible number of people to work. | yes | Message to Congress Recommending Enactment of the National Industrial Recovery Act. |
| 1935-04-08 | statute | Emergency Relief Appropriation Act (WPA) | $4.88 billion for work relief. | yes | Statement on Signing the Work Relief Bill. |
Assessments
PWA and WPA transformed the country's infrastructure though the PWA spent slowly.
Together with the PWA, the WPA transformed the face of the land--from La Guardia Airport and the Triborough Bridge in New York to the Orange Bowl in Miami to the Oregon Coastal Highway.
Other positions on this issue
- 'Employment for all surplus labor at all times' through self-liquidating public works (the Shearon letter, as Hoover read it) — Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1932 specific_pledge
- Public works spending is only a stopgap, not a cure for unemployment — Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1932 directional_stance
- 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 — Herbert Hoover, 1932 specific_pledge
- Ratify the St. Lawrence seaway treaty and complete the inland waterway system — Herbert Hoover, 1932 specific_pledge
- The Garner-Rainey $1.2 billion public-works bill — and a pledge to reintroduce it — John Nance Garner, 1932 specific_pledge
- A $5 billion federal public-works program — roads, reforestation, slum clearance, workers' housing — and idle factories and land turned over to the unemployed — Norman Thomas, 1932 specific_pledge
1932-fdr-self-sustaining-public-works · created by claude-fable-5-1 · review: unreviewed