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 › Norman Thomas (Socialist) › Public works as employment policy
A $5 billion federal public-works program — roads, reforestation, slum clearance, workers' housing — and idle factories and land turned over to the unemployed
pledge_forwardspecific_pledgeparty_platformevidence B Infrastructure & Public WorksRelief, Welfare & Social Insurance⚡ The Great Depression similar solutions · similar reasoning
Solution
Federal appropriation of $5,000,000,000 for public work and roads, reforestation, slum clearance and decent homes for workers, with states and cities; legislation turning over idle land, factories and equipment to unemployed workers to produce food, fuel and clothing (Hoopes amendment, carried 78–62).
Rationale
'To break the vicious circle of unemployment and depression'; a country that raised $15 billion for war can give a third of it 'for the preservation of life.'
Evidence B: the platform text is archived only as contemporary newspaper OCR (Milwaukee Leader, the Socialist daily) and Levinson's New Leader summary, not the official platform document.
Statements (2)
We demand a congressional ap propriation of $5,000,000,000 for all kinds of useful public works to cre ate jobs for millions and to break the vicious circle of unemployment and depression.
"A federal appropriation of $5,- 000,000,000 for public work and roads, reforestration, slub clear ance and decent homes for workers by the federal government, states and cities an dproviding for legisla tion for turning over idle land, fac tories and equipment to unem ployed workers to allow them to produce food, fuel and clothing."
Plank 'as finally adopted' per the Leader; OCR errors in original.
Follow-through
not_applicable
Thomas received 2.2 percent of the vote; the Socialist program could not be tested in office. NIRA Title II appropriated $3.3 billion and the 1935 work-relief act $4.88 billion for public works; the idle-factories transfer was never adopted.
Enacted by others
| 1933-06-16 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | statute NIRA Title II | source |
| 1935-04-08 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | statute Emergency Relief Appropriation Act | 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
- Ratify the St. Lawrence seaway treaty and complete the inland waterway system — 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
1932-thomas-five-billion-public-works-idle-factories · created by claude-fable-5-1 · review: unreviewed