PresidentialPositionsIssuesReceptionTimelineDocuments

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.

Eight-point federal utility program: publicity, Federal Power Commission control of holding companies, prudent-investment rate base — Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1932

Similar by solution solution · rationale

ScoreCycleCandidateIssuePosition
0.641936Frank KnoxOverall role and scale of the federal governmentFair, honest, economical and efficient government; preserve free enterprise against 'amateur economic planners'
0.601932Franklin D. RooseveltOverall role and scale of the federal governmentGovernment as a check on concentrated economic power — "individualism" redefined as equality of opportunity
0.601932Franklin D. RooseveltPublic ownership of electric powerPublic development of hydro-electric power on the St. Lawrence model, with national control of interstate transmission
0.581936Franklin D. RooseveltConcentrated economic power vs. the average citizen (rhetorical framing)Take power from the 'economic royalists': the mandate of 1932 is to end economic tyranny
0.571932Franklin D. RooseveltBalancing the federal budgetBalance the federal budget annually within revenues
0.561936Alf LandonGold standard and currency basisSound currency 'at all hazards'; no further devaluation; repeal the laws delegating the money power to the Executive
0.551932Franklin D. RooseveltRegulation of securities issuance and exchangesFederal regulation of securities and commodity exchanges, interstate holding companies and interstate utility rates
0.541936Franklin D. RooseveltCivil service and patronageImmediately extend the merit system to all non-policy-making federal positions
0.541936Alf LandonPolitics and patronage in relief administrationRelief will continue, but purged of politics, administered locally on merit, with economies taken from 'the political exploiters'
0.541932Herbert HooverLocal government consolidation and the tax burden on landA national review of federal-state-local taxation to relieve farms and homes of property taxes
0.541932Franklin D. RooseveltPublic works as employment policyPublic works spending is only a stopgap, not a cure for unemployment
0.541932Herbert HooverBalancing the federal budgetA balanced budget as 'the foundation of all public and private financial stability'
0.541932Norman ThomasPublic ownership of major industriesTransfer the principal industries — banking, natural resources, utilities — to social ownership by compensation, not confiscation
0.531932Franklin D. RooseveltReorganization of the executive branchConsolidate the seven federal farm-mortgage agencies under a single purpose
0.531932Albert C. RitchieFederal responsibility for reliefStates' rights and business-led recovery — no federal intervention in relief
0.531932Herbert HooverRegulation of securities issuance and exchangesNo federal 'blue sky' law — securities regulation belongs to the states, and the President should not police booms
0.521932Herbert HooverNational ProhibitionResubmit the Eighteenth Amendment so each state may decide, with constitutional guarantees against the saloon and against interference with dry states; enforce the law meanwhile
0.521932Herbert HooverFederal responsibility for reliefRelief through voluntary mobilization and local responsibility, with RFC loans to exhausted states — no federal dole
0.521932Herbert HooverFarm prices and agricultural surplusFarm prices can be restored only by general recovery and markets — no production control, no subsidies; repeal Farm Board stabilization
0.521932Franklin D. RooseveltTariff levelsA "competitive" tariff set through a scientific Tariff Commission, with anti-log-rolling rules and a public counsel
0.521932Herbert HooverLevel of federal spendingCut federal spending $1.5 billion below fiscal 1932 and reorganize the executive branch
0.521932Herbert HooverRegulation of banks and securitiesThe RFC and the 'shield of Government credit' saved 5,000 institutions and must continue — but no direct government lending to everyone
0.511932Franklin D. RooseveltPublic works as employment policyExpand self-sustaining public works and temporary federal work (forests, flood control, waterways), with advance planning
0.511932Franklin D. RooseveltOverall role and scale of the federal governmentRemove government from private enterprise except public works and natural resources
0.511932Franklin D. RooseveltFarm and home mortgage reliefGovernment assistance to keep home-owners and farm-owners from foreclosure