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1932 › Herbert Hoover (Republican) › Philippine independence
Gradual Philippine independence — economic independence first, with duty-free sugar cut from 600,000 tons downward every year
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Solution
Oppose the Democratic Hawes-Hayes bill (9–17 year probation with duty-free sugar rising to 850,000 tons); instead freeze duty-free Philippine sugar at 600,000 tons and reduce it annually so the islands build economic independence before political independence.
Rationale
The Philippines 'cannot in their own interest attain political independence until they have secured economic independence'; the Democratic plan hurts the American beet-sugar grower for years and then 'plunges the Philippines into ruin as the price of their liberty.'
Statements (1)
We say that they cannot in their own interest attain political independence until they have secured economic independence. They depend for their prosperity upon being within the tariff laws of the United States. We therefore say that their amount of duty-free sugar and of other commodities must not be increased at all, but on the contrary must start, in the case of sugar, at 600,000 tons and be reduced every year in order to gradually establish their economic independence.
Statement to the press issued the same morning and read into the speech.
Follow-through
blocked
Hoover vetoed the Hawes-Cutting bill on January 13, 1933 as pledged; Congress overrode him on January 17. The Philippine legislature rejected that act, and the Tydings-McDuffie Act (1934) — with the same sugar quotas Hoover had opposed — became the independence law.
Mechanisms
| Date | Type | Name | Effect | Consistent? | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1933-01-13 | veto | Veto of the Hawes-Cutting Philippine independence bill | Overridden by both houses within four days. | yes | Veto of a Bill Providing for the Independence of the Philippine Islands |
Assessments
Congress overrode the veto; the successor law kept the economic provisions Hoover had condemned.
Enacted by others
| 1934-03-24 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | statute Tydings-McDuffie Act | source |
Other positions on this issue
- Independence for the Philippines; ultimate statehood for Puerto Rico — Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1932 specific_pledge
1932-hoover-philippine-gradual-independence-sugar · created by claude-fable-5-1 · review: unreviewed