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1932 › Herbert Hoover (Republican) › Public works as employment policy
Ratify the St. Lawrence seaway treaty and complete the inland waterway system
pledge_forwardspecific_pledgecandidate_directevidence A AgricultureInfrastructure & Public WorksTransportation similar solutions · similar reasoning
Solution
Secure Senate ratification of the July 1932 treaty with Canada and build the Great Lakes–St. Lawrence seaway, 'the greatest public improvement ever undertaken upon our continent'; continue the Mississippi and inland waterway program already doubled in pace.
Rationale
Gives the Midwest access to world markets and employs men; a 1928 pledge now delivered.
Statements (3)
Recognizing the inestimable benefits which will accrue to the nation from placing the ports of the Great Lakes on an ocean base, the party reaffirms allegiance to this great project and pledges its best efforts to secure its early completion.
After 20 years of discussion between the United States and our great neighbor to the north, I have signed a treaty for the construction of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence seaway.
We shall undertake this great seaway, the greatest public improvement ever undertaken upon our continent, with its consequent employment of men as quickly as that treaty can be ratified.
Follow-through
not_applicable
Hoover lost the election; the pledge could not be tested in office. The Senate rejected the Hoover treaty 46–42 on March 14, 1934 under Roosevelt; the seaway was built only in 1954–59.
Enacted by others
| 1934-03-14 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | treaty Senate defeat of the St. Lawrence treaty | Blocked under the successor administration. source |
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
- Expand self-sustaining public works and temporary federal work (forests, flood control, waterways), with advance planning — Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1932 specific_pledge
- 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
- 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-hoover-st-lawrence-seaway-waterways · created by claude-fable-5-1 · review: unreviewed