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.

A twenty-year moratorium on the war debts, writing them off in proportion to each nation's purchases of American goods — Alfred E. Smith, 1932

Similar by solution solution · rationale

Score	Cycle	Candidate	Issue	Position
0.70	1932	Franklin D. Roosevelt	European war debts and reparations	No cancellation of the war debts — make payment possible by restoring trade
0.63	1936	Alf Landon	European war debts and reparations	Use every effort to collect the war debts due from foreign countries
0.58	1932	Herbert Hoover	European war debts and reparations	No cancellation of war debts; apply any annual payment to opening foreign markets for American farm products
0.58	1936	Franklin D. Roosevelt	Level of federal spending	Defense of the eight-billion-dollar deficit as an investment in America
0.54	1936	Franklin D. Roosevelt	Balancing the federal budget	Balance the budget within a year or two out of rising national income, without new taxes
0.52	1932	Newton D. Baker	European war debts and reparations	Entry into the World Court and cancellation of the war debts (the record that made him 'politically unpopular')
0.52	1932	Franklin D. Roosevelt	Balancing the federal budget	Balance the federal budget annually within revenues
0.50	1932	Herbert Hoover	Balancing the federal budget	A balanced budget as 'the foundation of all public and private financial stability'
0.49	1932	Norman Thomas	European war debts and reparations	Cancel the war debts (against cancellation of reparations) and raze the tariff wall
0.48	1932	Franklin D. Roosevelt	Restoring the commodity price level (reflation)	Restore commodity prices toward their former dollar value rather than write down all debts
0.48	1936	Franklin D. Roosevelt	Farm prices and agricultural surplus	Continue soil conservation and domestic allotment payments; end ruinous surpluses; commodity loans on seasonal surpluses
0.47	1932	Herbert Hoover	Level of federal spending	Cut federal spending $1.5 billion below fiscal 1932 and reorganize the executive branch
0.47	1932	Franklin D. Roosevelt	International economic and monetary conferences	Convene international monetary and economic conferences to stabilize currencies and restore trade
0.47	1936	Franklin D. Roosevelt	Level of federal spending	Reduce the expenses of government as relief needs decline
0.46	1936	Franklin D. Roosevelt	Gold standard and currency basis	A permanently sound currency stabilized against wide fluctuations
0.46	1932	Franklin D. Roosevelt	Control of credit expansion	Prevent another runaway credit expansion through government information, not government control of credit
0.46	1932	Herbert Hoover	International economic and monetary conferences	A world economic conference on monetary stabilization and trade, with an agricultural representative
0.46	1932	Herbert Hoover	Short-term and marketing credit for agriculture	Restore short-term farm credit through the new agricultural credit corporations, RFC loans to processors and financing of export sales
0.46	1932	Herbert Hoover	European war debts and reparations	The 1931 German moratorium and standstill agreements stemmed European collapse and will be built upon
0.46	1932	Franklin D. Roosevelt	Tariff levels	Revise the tariff downward through reciprocal trade agreements
0.45	1936	William Lemke	Farm and home mortgage relief	Refinance farm mortgages through the Frazier-Lemke plan (government-issued credit at low interest)
0.45	1932	Franklin D. Roosevelt	Gold standard and currency basis	A sound currency preserved at all hazards
0.44	1932	Herbert Hoover	Public works as employment policy	Federal construction at three times normal and $1.5 billion of RFC loans for self-liquidating works — but no pork-barrel or non-productive projects
0.43	1932	Norman Thomas	Farm and home mortgage relief	Government aid to farmers and small home-owners against foreclosure and tax sales; moratorium on interest debated
0.43	1932	Franklin D. Roosevelt	Level of federal spending	Cut the cost of the federal government by at least 25 percent