Who was the last truly conservative Republican President?
I say that it was Calvin Coolidge. He reduced the national debt and taxes, and he strove to keep the US out of international conflicts. The next Republican President was Herbert Hoover and he failed to balance the budget – as in the Great Depression. The next Republican after Hoover was Eisenhower. Eisenhower was a centrist, who supported the Civil Rights Act of 1957 and publicly condemned McCarthy. He balanced the budget and ended the Korean War. But conservatives were unimpressed by him and nominated Goldwater in 1964. And, as we all know, Ike warned us of the encroaching military-industrial-complex. The next Republican was Nixon, and he was a liberal. He established the EPA, OSHA, the Endangered Species Act, and he imposed wage and price controls. He was outspoken in favor of Affirmative Action and his drug policy included funds for education. I think it’s fair to say that he wouldn’t even qualify as a Democrat today – and this gives us an indication of just how far the entire polit
