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1932 › Norman Thomas (Socialist) › National Prohibition
Repeal the Eighteenth Amendment — the candidate preferring a binding national referendum
pledge_forwardspecific_pledgeparty_platformevidence B Prohibition & Alcohol⚡ National Prohibition similar solutions · similar reasoning
Solution
Platform plank for repeal (carried 81–71, then 84–77); Thomas personally favored a national referendum to which parties would pledge themselves, and would vote for repeal in it; a Hoan–Broun–Ameringer proposal for government ownership of the liquor industry with state local option was also offered.
Rationale
The party should 'take a definite, courageous stand where the two old parties are dodging' (Broun).
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)
A plank for repeal of the 18th Amendment was also written into the platform.
Thomas declared himself in favor of a national referendum on the subject, to which the parties would pledge themselves to abide. In the event of such a referendum his own vote would be for repeal, he said.
Follow-through
not_applicable
Thomas received 2.2 percent of the vote; the Socialist program could not be tested in office. Repeal came in December 1933 by state conventions, without a national referendum.
Enacted by others
| 1933-12-05 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | other Twenty-first Amendment | source |
Other positions on this issue
- Repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment as a matter of states' rights — Albert C. Ritchie, 1932 specific_pledge
- Outright repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment — the issue Roosevelt was downplaying — Alfred E. Smith, 1932 specific_pledge
- Repeal the Eighteenth Amendment by state conventions; legalize beer now; states control liquor and bar the saloon — Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1932 specific_pledge
- Resubmit the Eighteenth Amendment so each state may decide, with constitutional guarantees against the saloon and against interference with dry states; enforce the law meanwhile — Herbert Hoover, 1932 specific_pledge
1932-thomas-repeal-prohibition-referendum · created by claude-fable-5-1 · review: unreviewed