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1932 › Herbert Hoover (Republican) › European war debts and reparations
The 1931 German moratorium and standstill agreements stemmed European collapse and will be built upon
defense_of_recordspecific_pledgecandidate_directevidence A Diplomacy & International InstitutionsEconomy & Fiscal Policy⚡ European war-debt crisis similar solutions · similar reasoning
Solution
Defend the one-year intergovernmental debt moratorium of June 1931 and the standstill on German private debts as having 'stemmed the tide of collapse in Germany'; continue cooperation for foreign stability.
Rationale
Europe's collapse struck the United States through gold withdrawals and lost markets; 'we have fought for stability in other countries whose failure would inevitably injure us.'
Statements (1)
It is in accordance with these principles that in the face of the looming European crises we sought to change the trend of European economic degeneration by our proposals of the German moratorium and the standstill agreements on German private debts. We stemmed the tide of collapse in Germany and the consequent ruin of its people.
Follow-through
superseded
The moratorium year ended December 1932; Britain paid in December 1932, France defaulted, and after June 1933 nearly all debtors defaulted permanently.
Mechanisms
| Date | Type | Name | Effect | Consistent? | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1932-12-19 | message | Special message on intergovernmental debts | Asked Congress for a debt commission; refused. | yes | Special Message to the Congress on Intergovernmental Debts and International Economic Conditions. |
Assessments
General default followed the expiry of the moratorium.
Other positions on this issue
- A twenty-year moratorium on the war debts, writing them off in proportion to each nation's purchases of American goods — Alfred E. Smith, 1932 specific_pledge
- No cancellation of the war debts — make payment possible by restoring trade — Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1932 specific_pledge
- No cancellation of war debts; apply any annual payment to opening foreign markets for American farm products — Herbert Hoover, 1932 specific_pledge
- Entry into the World Court and cancellation of the war debts (the record that made him 'politically unpopular') — Newton D. Baker, 1932 directional_stance
- Cancel the war debts (against cancellation of reparations) and raze the tariff wall — Norman Thomas, 1932 specific_pledge
- Use every effort to collect the war debts due from foreign countries — Alf Landon, 1936 directional_stance
1932-hoover-moratorium-standstill · created by claude-fable-5-1 · review: unreviewed