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1936 › Franklin D. Roosevelt (Democratic) › Direct relief for the unemployed

Provide useful work at prevailing wages for the needy unemployed rather than a dole

pledge_forwarddirectional_stancecandidate_directevidence A Relief, Welfare & Social Insurance similar solutions · similar reasoning

Solution

Continue WPA-style work relief in cooperation with State and local governments where private industry fails to supply jobs; refuse to 'purge the rolls by starvation.'

Rationale

Maximum employment in private industry is the first objective, but unemployment is 'a national problem' and 'an inescapable obligation of our Government.'

Position chain: Federal leadership in distress relief — federal credit to states whose resources are exhausted

Statements (3)

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

Where business fails to supply such employment, we believe that work at prevailing wages should be provided in cooperation with State and local governments on useful public projects

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

1936-10-31 · Madison Square Garden, New York · generalcandidate_direct ✓ verified

Of course we will provide useful work for the needy unemployed; we prefer useful work to the pauperism of a dole.

Source: Address at Madison Square Garden, New York City (1936-10-31)

1936-10-31 · Madison Square Garden, New York · generalcandidate_direct ✓ verified

Your Government is still on the same side of the street with the Good Samaritan and not with those who pass by on the other side.

Source: Address at Madison Square Garden, New York City (1936-10-31)

Follow-through

kept

WPA work relief continued through the term: cut in 1937, expanded by $1.425 billion in June 1938 after the recession, supplemented in 1939. The Hatch Act (1939) answered the charge that relief was politically exploited.

Mechanisms

Date	Type	Name	Effect	Consistent?	Source
1938-06-21	statute	Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1938 charted on: Unemployment rate (NBER series, 1929–1942)	$1.425 billion for WPA. the Congress appropriated to the Works Progress Administration the sum of $1,425,000,000	yes	Message to Congress on the Works Progress Administration.
1939-01-05	message	Message on the WPA charted on: Unemployment rate (NBER series, 1929–1942)	Asked supplemental funds; proposed statutory penalties for political abuse.	yes	Message to Congress on the Works Progress Administration.

Assessments

kept Franklin D. Roosevelt — Message to Congress on Stimulating Recovery.

Work relief remained the instrument; the dole was not restored.

Reception (1)

news_coveragedistortedsalience medium David Lawrence, Evening Star, on the Baltimore Sun poll 1936-10-24

Relief recipients feared open postcard ballots could identify their votes; WPA foremen collected ballot cards -- relief seen as a political machine.

it is reported that foremen on W. P. A. units asked the men to bring their ballot cards to a central place to be sent in.

Source: Sun poll finds fear of open ballots; pay roll tax (Evening Star, Oct. 24, 1936, p. 7)

1936-fdr-useful-work-relief-not-dole · created by claude-fable-5-1 · review: unreviewed