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1936 › Franklin D. Roosevelt (Democratic) › Antitrust and concentration of economic power
Vigorously enforce the antitrust laws and restore their efficacy against new corporate devices
pledge_forwarddirectional_stancecandidate_directevidence A Industry, Business & Regulation similar solutions · similar reasoning
Solution
Enforce the criminal and civil provisions of the existing antitrust laws and, where corporate devices or judicial construction have weakened them, legislate to restore their effectiveness against monopolistic practices.
Rationale
Half of industrial corporate wealth was under fewer than 200 corporations tied together by interlocking directors; 'private enterprise, indeed, became too private.'
Statements (3)
We pledge vigorously and fearlessly to enforce the criminal and civil provisions of the existing anti-trust laws, and to the extent that their effectiveness has been weakened by new corporate devices or judicial construction, we propose by law to restore their efficacy in stamping out monopolistic practices and the concentration of economic power.
But above all, we have fought to break the deadly grip which monopoly has in the past been able to fasten on the business of the Nation.
Of course we will continue every effort to end monopoly in business, to support collective bargaining, to stop unfair competition, to abolish dishonorable trade practices. For all these we have only just begun to fight.
Follow-through
kept
An FTC investigation of monopolistic price-raising (Nov. 1937), the monopoly message of April 1938 that produced the Temporary National Economic Committee, and Thurman Arnold's Antitrust Division (1938-43), which filed more cases than all predecessors combined. No new statute restored the laws' 'efficacy' as the platform promised.
Mechanisms
| Date | Type | Name | Effect | Consistent? | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1937-11-16 | message | Letter to the FTC on monopolistic practices raising living costs | Ordered an FTC inquiry.request the Federal Trade Commission to make an immediate investigation into such alleged practices and methods | yes | Letter on Monopolistic Practices Raising Living Costs. |
| 1938-03-11 | appointment | Thurman Arnold heads the Antitrust Division | Aggressive prosecution campaign 1938-43.best known for his trust-busting campaign as Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Antitrust Division in President Franklin D. Roosevelt 's Department of Justice from 1938 to 1943 | yes | Thurman Arnold - Wikipedia |
| 1938-04-29 | message | Message on curbing monopolies | Asked for a national inquiry into concentration of economic power.Among us today a concentration of private power without equal in history is growing. | yes | Message to Congress on Curbing Monopolies. |
| 1938-06-16 | statute | Temporary National Economic Committee created | Congressional-executive study of economic concentration, 1938-41. | yes | Temporary National Economic Committee - Wikipedia |
Assessments
Roosevelt counted the TNEC among the 75th Congress's achievements.
The Congress has provided a fact-finding Commission to find a path through the jungle of contradictory theories about wise business practices
Other positions on this issue
- Strengthen and impartially enforce the antitrust laws — Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1932 directional_stance
- Use the full power of the federal government to break up private monopolies and enforce the antitrust laws 'without fear or favor' — Alf Landon, 1936 directional_stance
- Drive monopoly and price fixing out of the system or face governmental regimentation — William E. Borah, 1936 directional_stance
1936-fdr-antitrust-enforcement · created by claude-fable-5-1 · review: unreviewed