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1932 › Herbert Hoover (Republican) › European war debts and reparations
No cancellation of war debts; apply any annual payment to opening foreign markets for American farm products
pledge_forwardspecific_pledgecandidate_directevidence A AgricultureDiplomacy & International Institutions⚡ European war-debt crisis similar solutions · similar reasoning
Solution
Maintain the policy of Hoover's predecessors against cancellation; consider reducing a given annual payment only for 'tangible compensation' such as expanded markets; recommend that debt receipts be used specifically to open foreign markets for American agriculture; reject the Democratic plan of lowering tariffs so Europe can pay from trade profits.
Rationale
Transferring the debts 'to the backs of the American people' via tariff cuts 'would be better to cancel'; arms reduction would let debtors pay; the 1931 moratorium and standstill 'stemmed the tide of collapse in Germany.'
Statements (3)
If for any particular annual payment we were offered some other tangible form of compensation, such as the expansion of markets for American agriculture and labor, and the restoration and maintenance of our prosperity, then I am sure our citizens would consider such a proposal. But it is a certainty that these debts must not be canceled or these burdens transferred to the backs of the American people.
I am prepared to go farther. I am prepared to recommend that any annual payment on the foreign debt be used for the specific purpose of securing an expansion and an opening of the foreign markets for American agricultural products.
I have consistently opposed the cancellation of these debts. The Democratic candidate, to use his own words, proposes to reduce our tariffs so that out of Europe's profits through the increase of trade they would obtain from the United States, they could pay us these debt annuities. That is vastly worse than cancellation.
Follow-through
not_applicable
Hoover lost the election; the pledge could not be tested in office. No cancellation occurred under Roosevelt either; the debtors simply defaulted after June 1933 and the Johnson Act (1934) barred loans to defaulters. Hoover's plan to trade debt payments for farm markets was never tried.
Enacted by others
| 1934-04-13 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | statute Johnson Act barring loans to defaulting governments | Default rather than cancellation or market-for-payment exchange. source |
Reception (1)
Hoover's invitation to the President-elect to confer on the debt notes was hailed as wise and statesmanlike; Roosevelt's acceptance won equal praise.
President Hoover's gesture of cooperation is hailed everywhere as wise, politic, patriotic, statesman- like. President-elect Roosevelt's gracious acceptance similarly wins the plaudits of the press.
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
- The 1931 German moratorium and standstill agreements stemmed European collapse and will be built upon — 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-war-debts-no-cancellation-use-for-markets · created by claude-fable-5-1 · review: unreviewed