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.
| Score | Cycle | Candidate | Issue | Position |
|---|
| 0.69 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | European war debts and reparations | No cancellation of the war debts — make payment possible by restoring trade |
| 0.60 | 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') |
| 0.53 | 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 |
| 0.49 | 1932 | Alfred E. Smith | European war debts and reparations | A twenty-year moratorium on the war debts, writing them off in proportion to each nation's purchases of American goods |
| 0.48 | 1936 | Alf Landon | Executive reciprocal trade agreements (1934 Act) | Repeal the Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act; return treaty power to the Senate and tariff-making to Congress |
| 0.48 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Tariff levels | A "competitive" tariff set through a scientific Tariff Commission, with anti-log-rolling rules and a public counsel |
| 0.48 | 1936 | Alf Landon | European war debts and reparations | Use every effort to collect the war debts due from foreign countries |
| 0.43 | 1932 | Herbert Hoover | Tariff levels | Unconditional most-favored-nation treatment; no reciprocal bargains or preferences |
| 0.43 | 1932 | Herbert Hoover | Tariff levels | Maintain — and if necessary widen — the protective tariff; reject the Democratic 'competitive tariff for revenue' |
| 0.43 | 1936 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Neutrality, arms embargoes and staying out of foreign wars | Keep the United States out of war: true neutrality, take the profits out of war, no political commitments |
| 0.42 | 1932 | Herbert Hoover | Farm prices and agricultural surplus | Farm prices can be restored only by general recovery and markets — no production control, no subsidies; repeal Farm Board stabilization |
| 0.41 | 1932 | Herbert Hoover | Tariff levels | Preserve the bipartisan Tariff Commission's flexible power to adjust rates without congressional log-rolling |
| 0.40 | 1932 | Herbert Hoover | National Prohibition | Resubmit the Eighteenth Amendment so each state may decide, with constitutional guarantees against the saloon and against interference with dry states; enforce the law meanwhile |
| 0.39 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Farm prices and agricultural surplus | Raise staple farm prices by a tariff-equivalent benefit plus voluntary production control, at no cost to the Treasury |
| 0.38 | 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 |
| 0.37 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Tariff levels | Revise the tariff downward through reciprocal trade agreements |
| 0.37 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Control of credit expansion | Prevent another runaway credit expansion through government information, not government control of credit |
| 0.36 | 1936 | Alf Landon | Gold standard and currency basis | Sound currency 'at all hazards'; no further devaluation; repeal the laws delegating the money power to the Executive |
| 0.36 | 1932 | Herbert Hoover | Local government consolidation and the tax burden on land | A national review of federal-state-local taxation to relieve farms and homes of property taxes |
| 0.35 | 1936 | Alf Landon | Balancing the federal budget | Balance the budget by cutting expenditures, not by raising taxes |
| 0.35 | 1932 | Alfred E. Smith | Tariff levels | Endorsement of the Smoot-Hawley tariff |
| 0.34 | 1936 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | How to finance old-age and unemployment insurance (contributory reserve vs. pay-as-you-go) | Defense of the payroll-tax financing: the employer pays an equal share and the reserves are safe |
| 0.34 | 1932 | Herbert Hoover | Regulation of securities issuance and exchanges | No federal 'blue sky' law — securities regulation belongs to the states, and the President should not police booms |
| 0.34 | 1932 | Herbert Hoover | Regulation of banks and securities | Reform the banking laws; stop credit flowing to speculation; relieve depositors of closed banks |
| 0.34 | 1936 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Level of federal spending | Defense of the eight-billion-dollar deficit as an investment in America |