There's nothing new about big-spending presidents.

• Author: Steuerle, C. Eugene

Which presidents were the biggest domestic spenders in the 20th century? Contrary to most people's expectations, higher domestic spending growth occurred under the watch of Republican rather than Democratic presidents. This is because domestic government activity has been less a result of presidential ideology than of opportunity or crisis.

That is not to say that the Republicans are the real "big government" party. In fact, domestic spending over the last century has had little relation to campaign promises to expand or contract government. Instead, it has been driven by more practical considerations -- the expansion and contraction of available sources of financing for government activities.

Today, the easy financing mechanisms that fueled most of the 20th-century domestic spending growth no longer are available. This, combined with the high and automatic expansion of entitlements, is driving the long-term budget crunch. The floundering of government is far more than an issue of changing ideologies or philosophies of government. A primary cause is the dramatic reversal in fiscal flexibility.

Over the last 100 years, of the five presidents who reigned over the largest domestic spending growth, four were Republicans. Taken in order of expenditures, they were Richard Nixon, Herbert Hoover, Dwight Eisenhower, Harry S. Truman (the lone Democrat), and George Bush. This ranking was obtained by measuring the change in domestic spending as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) between the fiscal year of a president's inauguration and that of his successor's inauguration. For example, the measure for Bush would be the change in domestic spending as a percentage of GDP between Fiscal Years 1989 and 1993.

Presidential ideology and political party do not appear to play a strong role in determining domestic spending. The top two spenders -- Nixon and Hoover -- are considered to be among the most conservative of the century. Yet, together they produced almost three-quarters of the domestic spending growth over the 100-year span.

In contrast, the liberal New Dealer, Franklin D. Roosevelt, is at the bottom of the list. Domestic spending actually fell by 3.6% of GDP during his tenure. The main factor was that the massive World War II defense buildup crowded out domestic spending. Under FDR. defense outlays increased by 37% of GDP. Domestic spending fell as the nation devoted more than a third of its resources to the war effort.

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