Who was the last republican president with a balanced budget?

[DetlefK]

Or to be more specific:
Republicans claim to be the party of fiscal responsibility.
Who was the last republican president to leave his term with less national debt than he had inherited?

(I don't know where to look it up, but it certainly would be interesting.)

[Zoeisright]

1. Lincoln?

That's my best guess. Of course, that's when 'Republican' meant something completely different.

[endless october]

2. Eisenhower.

[no_hypocrisy]

5. Correct.

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Which_republican_president_balanced_a_budget

[endless october]

9. he was my first guess, but i admit i looked it up.

google, making anon internet users look like experts since 1998.

lol

[timeforpeace]

3. Lowering taxes equals a deficit. It's intentional.

[Ed76638]

4. I'm guessing Eisenhower.

That dude was awesome.

[jwirr]

10. In many ways he was a good president BUT if you were poor then

forget it.

[AllentownJake]

6. The last President to have no deficit was Andrew Jackson

Not sure where he'd fit in on the 21st century ideological scale. His anti-banking would probably be liberal and his pro-genocide probably tea bagger.

:shrug:

[Ozymanithrax]

7. The U.S. has consistently run a national debt since before WWI.

Under Harding,the debt declined, spiked again under Coolidge and then declined under Coolidge until Roosevelt. (Hoover believed a ballanced austerity budget was the answer to the Great Depression.) Under Roosevelt, the Great Depression programs and WWII massively increased the deficit. But the Deficit declined after WWII until around 1972. Nixon's Deficits declined under Ford and Carter, then climbed until Clinton. Under Clinton, deficits were reduced and the debt paid off until Bush II.

If you call paying off the Debt a balanced budget, Eisenhower or Ford. But if a Balanced budget means we spend only what we take in without debt, well that would be before the Great Depression.

"Balanced Budget" are code words for Socialist Democrats who tax and spend and pursue fiscally irresponsible policies. They are code words for ending Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and any form of welfare. They are a scam by Repubicans.

[TexasObserver]

8. IKE

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Which_republican_president_balanced_a_budget

Dwight Eisenhower was last Republican President to preside over a balanced budget. He had a balanced budget in 1956 and 1957. Since then, there have been two presidents to preside over balanced budgets, LBJ in 1969 and Clinton in 1998 through 2001. During the last 40 years there have been five budget surpluses, all five were under Democratic Presidents: 1969, 1998, 1999, 2000, and 2001.

To clarify, congress authorizes the budget. No Democrat congress has balanced a budget in 52 years (the last was in 1957 under Eisenhower). Republican controlled congresses balanced the budget all five times in the last half century including in 1969, 1998, 1999, 2000, and 2001.

So the question is misleading in that the president alone cannot balance a budget. Congress has authority over financial and budgetary matters. For example, President Clinton vetoed the Republican's 7-year balanced budget plan in 1995 and finally capitulated in 1998.

Richard M. Nixon was President in 1969. LBJ's last year was 1967. LBJ's term ended Nov.20, 1969. The 69 budget runs from Oct 68 through Sept 69.