As we observe President’s Day, let’s take a look at how much debt each President left the country.
President Franklin Roosevelt, who presided over most of World War II, left the country with more debt than every other president to date. Public debt as a share of GDP was at 95.7 percent in 1944, his last full calendar year in office.
President Obama is the second-worst president in this category, with public debt at 74.1 percent of GDP in 2014. Even under President Obama’s budget proposal, public debt would still be 74.3 percent of GDP in 2016, his last year in office.
There was no public debt in 1836, President Andrew Jackson’s final year in office. Presidents Van Buren, Tyler and Pierce are the only other presidents to leave office with debt at 1 percent of GDP or less.
President William Howard Taft was the last president to leave office with public debt in the single digits. Since World War II, President Richard Nixon left office with the least public debt.
Debt fell in the country’s early history as Revolutionary War debts were paid off. There were three straight years of no public debt from 1834 through 1836. Debt rose again during and after the Civil War, peaking at 31.4 percent of GDP in 1866 and 1867.
Debts gradually fell to 2.7 percent of GDP in 1916, right before the United States joined World War I. Debt spiked as President Woodrow Wilson took the country into war, eventually falling again under President Calvin Coolidge. Debt doubled under President Herbert Hoover, then nearly tripled as Franklin Roosevelt took the country into World War II. Debt has since never recovered to the pre-World War II levels of Coolidge, let alone the minuscule levels seen under Taft before World War I.
Presidents do not have full control over the federal budget, so they don’t deserve full responsibility for debt levels when they leave office. For instance, President Ronald Reagan wanted spending cuts while he was in office, but the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives did not comply. Also, the timing or wars or recessions may not totally be pinned on the president, but they have a major impact on the national debt. Still, the veto pen is a major tool in budget debates, and the president deserves more credit or blame than any other individual.
