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 |
|---|
| 0.62 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Child labor | No return to sweatshops or children working in factories |
| 0.57 | 1936 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Amending the Constitution to enlarge (or restrain) federal power | Meet constitutional obstacles by 'clarifying amendment' -- and say nothing about the Supreme Court |
| 0.56 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Working hours and labor standards | Spread employment by substantially reducing hours of labor, starting in government service |
| 0.55 | 1936 | Alf Landon | Amending the Constitution to enlarge (or restrain) federal power | Wages, hours and child labor by State law and interstate compact -- and a constitutional amendment giving the States power if the courts forbid |
| 0.53 | 1932 | Herbert Hoover | Maintenance of wage levels in depression | Uphold wages and spread work by voluntary agreement of employers and labor; shorter hours in government service |
| 0.50 | 1936 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Direct relief for the unemployed | Provide useful work at prevailing wages for the needy unemployed rather than a dole |
| 0.48 | 1932 | Norman Thomas | Working hours and labor standards | The six-hour day and five-day week without reduction in wages |
| 0.45 | 1936 | William Lemke | Minimum wages | A 'living annual wage' -- $1,800 for a family of five -- by federal law and a constitutional amendment if necessary |
| 0.43 | 1936 | Alf Landon | National economic planning | End federal regimentation: no revival of NRA or AAA controls, no more emergency powers over production, wages and hours |
| 0.42 | 1936 | Alf Landon | Unemployment insurance | Leave unemployment insurance to State experiment; no federal tax to compel it |
| 0.42 | 1936 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Working hours and labor standards | Revive the NRA's principles 'by one device or another' (imputed; the President would not say) |
| 0.41 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Public works as employment policy | 'Employment for all surplus labor at all times' through self-liquidating public works (the Shearon letter, as Hoover read it) |
| 0.41 | 1932 | Norman Thomas | Unemployment insurance | Compulsory unemployment insurance funded by employers and by higher income and inheritance taxes |
| 0.40 | 1936 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Right to organize and bargain collectively | Guard the worker's right to organize and bargain collectively |
| 0.40 | 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 |
| 0.40 | 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 | 1936 | Alf Landon | How to finance old-age and unemployment insurance (contributory reserve vs. pay-as-you-go) | Repeal the compulsory old-age insurance plan; pay every needy citizen over 65 a pension from a direct, widely distributed tax |
| 0.39 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Distribution of national income and purchasing power | A more equitable distribution of national income — higher reward to labor, lower to speculative capital |
| 0.39 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Overall role and scale of the federal government | Government as a check on concentrated economic power — "individualism" redefined as equality of opportunity |
| 0.39 | 1932 | Norman Thomas | Public works as employment policy | A $5 billion federal public-works program — roads, reforestation, slum clearance, workers' housing — and idle factories and land turned over to the unemployed |
| 0.38 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Overall role and scale of the federal government | An "economic declaration of rights" — the right to make a living and the right to safe savings |
| 0.38 | 1932 | Norman Thomas | Child labor | Abolition of child labor |
| 0.37 | 1932 | Norman Thomas | Independence of the Supreme Court | A Workers' Rights Amendment; curb the Supreme Court's power over Congress; proportional representation; direct election of the President |
| 0.37 | 1936 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Civil service and patronage | Immediately extend the merit system to all non-policy-making federal positions |
| 0.37 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Public works as employment policy | Public works spending is only a stopgap, not a cure for unemployment |