Work in progress — cycles are added one at a time. Every quote is machine-verified against an archived source; follow the links to read it.

1932 › Herbert Hoover (Republican) › Regulation of banks and securities

The RFC and the 'shield of Government credit' saved 5,000 institutions and must continue — but no direct government lending to everyone

defense_of_recordspecific_pledgecandidate_directevidence A Banking & FinanceEconomy & Fiscal Policy⚡ Banking panics of 1930–1933⚡ The Great Depression similar solutions · similar reasoning

Solution

Continue the Reconstruction Finance Corporation ($2 billion) and the expanded Federal Reserve powers to uphold banks, insurance companies, building-and-loan associations, farm-mortgage associations and railroads; oppose the Rainey bill's direct federal loans 'to everybody' as making the government 'the most gigantic pawnbroker of history.'

Rationale

Foreign withdrawals of $2.4 billion and $1.6 billion of domestic hoarding threatened a $20–25 billion credit contraction; saving the institutions saved 25 million families' savings and jobs, not 'a few stockholders.'

Statements (4)

1932-08-11 · Address accepting the Republican nomination, Constitution Hall, Washington · generalcandidate_direct ✓ verified

It was in accord with these ideas that as the storm grew in intensity we created the Reconstruction Finance Corporation with a capital of 2 billions more to uphold the credit structure of the Nation, and by thus raising the shield of Government credit we prevented the wholesale failure of banks, of insurance companies, of building and loan associations, of farm mortgage associations, and of railroads in all of which the public interest is paramount.

Source: Address Accepting the Republican Presidential Nomination (1932-08-11)

1932-10-04 · Campaign address, Coliseum, Des Moines, Iowa · generalcandidate_direct ✓ verified

They passed a provision for loans to corporations and everybody else, whether they were affected and guarded by public interest or not. It would have made the Government the most gigantic pawnbroker of history. I vetoed that.

Source: Address at the Coliseum in Des Moines, Iowa (1932-10-04)

1932-10-22 · Campaign address, Olympia Arena, Detroit · generalcandidate_direct ✓ verified

He knows full well that the only purpose of helping a bank is to protect the depositor and the borrower.

Source: Address in Detroit, Michigan (1932-10-22)

1932-10-31 · Campaign address, Madison Square Garden, New York · generalcandidate_direct ✓ verified

It would place the Government in private business in such fashion as to violate the very principle of public relations upon which we have builded our Nation, and renders insecure its very foundations. Such action would make the Reconstruction Corporation the greatest banking and money-lending institution of all history.

Quoting his July 1932 veto of the Rainey direct-lending bill.

Source: Address at Madison Square Garden in New York City (1932-10-31)

Follow-through

not_applicable

Hoover lost the election; the pledge could not be tested in office. The RFC was retained and greatly expanded by Roosevelt, who also did what Hoover's Rainey veto had refused — direct federal lending through RFC subsidiaries.

Enacted by others

1933-03-09

Franklin D. Roosevelt

statute Continuation and expansion of the RFC (Emergency Banking Act; RFC subsidiaries)

Roosevelt kept the RFC as the New Deal's financing arm. source

Other positions on this issue

Separate investment banking from commercial banks; tighter national-bank supervision; faster payouts to depositors of closed banks — Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1932 specific_pledge
Reform the banking laws; stop credit flowing to speculation; relieve depositors of closed banks — Herbert Hoover, 1932 specific_pledge
RFC loans to individuals and corporations generally — 'the Government into personal banking' (the Rainey bill) — John Nance Garner, 1932 specific_pledge

1932-hoover-rfc-credit-shield · created by claude-fable-5-1 · review: unreviewed