Even FDR Had a Conservative Side

Of all Presidents, none have surpassed Franklin D. Roosevelt in revolutionizing the role of the federal government. Even if you think about Barack Obama, remember that he had two predecessors in government expansion to look to: Lyndon Johnson and FDR. And FDR did not have a significant predecessor to look to for expanding the federal government for the long-term in peacetime. Yes, yes, Teddy Roosevelt expanded some, and under Wilson the Federal Reserve was created, but they weren't close to the scale of FDR.

In 1924, the World War Adjusted Compensation Act was passed by Congress over the veto of Calvin Coolidge. This legislation awarded bonuses in the form of certificates to veterans of the First World War they could not redeem until 1945. In 1932, in the midst of the Great Depression, the Bonus Army marched on Washington. Led by former Sgt. Walter W. Waters, this 43,000 man force demanded immediate cash-payment redemption of their service certificates and camped in front of the White House. This proposal had friends on both sides of the aisle, and its leading proponent was to be New Dealer Congressman Wright Patman (D-Tex.). President Herbert Hoover opposed the measure, since if veterans had immediate access to cash payment for their services it would total $2 Billion, a budget bomb in those times. President Hoover handled the situation with zero tact, sending Chief of Staff Douglas MacArthur and his troops to clear out the encampment. Two veterans died in the process as the property of the marchers and their families were burned.

That year, Franklin D. Roosevelt ousted Hoover in the Presidential election. Roosevelt opposed the Bonus Bill as well, as it would eat into the budget for his New Deal programs. When a second demonstration was organized, Roosevelt handled the situation with skill. He provided the Bonus Marchers with a campsite in Virginia and three meals a day. He also sent First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt to lunch with them and listen to their standpoint. However, the most she could promise were jobs through the Civilian Conservation Corps. As one veteran put it, “Hoover sent the army, Roosevelt sent his wife.”

Roosevelt’s opposition was joined by a number of particularly conservative Southern Democrats as well as conservative Republicans in the Northeast, with only a few staunch liberal New Dealers backing the President. Roosevelt vetoed the first measure brought to his desk in 1934. The efforts of New Dealer Congressman Fred Vinson (D-Ky.) to substitute a more moderate bill failed in 1935, as did an even more limited substitute by conservative opponents Senator Millard Tydings (D-Md.) and Congressman Walter G. Andrews (R-N.Y.). Roosevelt again vetoed the Patman Legislation. 1936, however, was the year of the veterans. The Bonus Bill managed to attract some Senators and Congressmen who had previously opposed the legislation, possibly out of their fear for reelection prospects, and this time Roosevelt’s veto was overridden. Although veterans organizations promised Roosevelt that they would recommend veterans not redeem their bonds immediately, many did, constituting a stimulus that did not require a public works program.

Roosevelt fought on the conservative side of political battles only a few times in his Presidency, and this is the most outstanding example of such a battle. I wonder if we'll see this kind of scenario again, in which a Democratic President defies a majority of Democrats AND Republicans in the conservative direction. I won't hold my breath for it.