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1936 › Franklin D. Roosevelt (Democratic) › Civil service and patronage

Immediately extend the merit system to all non-policy-making federal positions

pledge_forwardspecific_pledgeparty_platformevidence A Civil Service & Administration similar solutions · similar reasoning

Solution

Bring under the civil service law all continuing positions exempted during the emergency.

Rationale

'For the protection of government itself and promotion of its efficiency.'

Statements (2)

1936-06-25 · Democratic National Convention, Philadelphia (platform) · conventionparty_platform ✓ verified

we pledge the immediate extension of the merit system through the classified civil service--which was first established and fostered under Democratic auspices--to all non-policy-making positions in the Federal service.

Source: 1936 Democratic Party Platform (1936-06-23)

1936-06-25 · Democratic National Convention, Philadelphia (platform) · conventionparty_platform ✓ verified

We shall subject to the civil service law all continuing positions which, because of the emergency, have been exempt from its operation.

Source: 1936 Democratic Party Platform (1936-06-23)

Follow-through

partial

Roosevelt urged blanket coverage in 1937 and 1938, but the 1938 reorganization bill carrying civil-service reform failed and Congress kept exempting new agencies. The Hatch Act (1939) applied civil-service political rules to all federal employees, and the Ramspeck Act (Nov. 1940) finally authorized extension to most positions -- late and by congressional initiative.

Mechanisms

Date	Type	Name	Effect	Consistent?	Source
1937-06-02	message	Letters urging extension of the merit system	Asked that all but policy-forming positions be covered. I would, therefore, urge upon the Congress that all but policy-forming positions be placed within its provisions.	yes	Letters on the Extension of the Merit System in the Civil Service.
1938-01-19	message	Statement on the federal civil service merit system	Restated support for extension 'upward, outward, and downward.' I have recommended and I support legislation for the extension of classified civil service upward, outward, and downward.	yes	Statement on the Federal Civil Service Merit System.
1939-08-02	statute	Hatch Act	Political-activity rules extended to all federal employees. this measure is in harmony with the policy that I have consistently advocated during all my public life, namely, the wider extension of Civil Service as opposed to its curtailment.	partly	Message to Congress on the Hatch Act.

Obstruction

congress Patronage-minded Congress; reorganization bill defeated April 1938. source

Assessments

partial Franklin D. Roosevelt — Message to Congress on the Hatch Act.

Roosevelt noted that nearly all exemptions had 'originated in the Congress itself and not in the Executive.'

It is worth noting that nearly all exemptions from the Civil Service, which have been made during the past six years and a half, have originated in the Congress itself and not in the Executive.

Other positions on this issue

Keep the merit system 'unassailable' — Herbert Hoover, 1932 directional_stance
Restore, improve and extend the merit system 'virtually destroyed by New Deal spoilsmen' — Alf Landon, 1936 directional_stance

1936-fdr-extend-merit-system · created by claude-fable-5-1 · review: unreviewed