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.
1936 › Alf Landon (Republican) › Equal rights and opportunity for Black Americans
Equal opportunity for colored citizens: protect their economic status and personal safety; further their employment
pledge_forwarddirectional_stanceparty_platformevidence B Civil Rights & Race similar solutions · similar reasoning
Solution
Employment in private industry, agriculture, emergency agencies and the civil service; protection of personal safety.
Rationale
New Deal policies 'would regiment and ultimately eliminate the colored citizen from the country's productive life.'
The platform's 'personal safety' clause was read as an anti-lynching gesture; Landon did not campaign on it, and Borah attacked the party's anti-lynching promises as hypocritical.
Statements (1)
We favor equal opportunity for our colored citizens. We pledge our protection of their economic status and personal safety. We will do our best to further their employment in the gainfully occupied life of America, particularly in private industry, agriculture, emergency agencies and the Civil Service.
Follow-through
not_applicable
No federal action on employment rights followed in either party; the anti-lynching bill died by Senate filibuster in 1938.
Other positions on this issue
- Maintain equal opportunity and rights for Negro citizens — Herbert Hoover, 1932 vague_gesture
- Economic, political and legal equality for the Negro; a federal anti-lynching law; enforce the First Amendment — Norman Thomas, 1932 specific_pledge
1936-landon-equal-opportunity-for-colored-citizens · created by claude-fable-5-1 · review: unreviewed