President Eisenhower, strongEconomic Policystrong, and the 1960.pdfVIP

University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln CBA Faculty Publications Business Administration, College of 6-1-1990 President Eisenhower, Economic Policy, and the 1960 Presidential Election Ann M ari May University of N ebraska - Lincoln, amay1@UNL .edu Follow this and a itional works at : http:// /cbafacpub Part of the Business Commons May, Ann Mari, President Eisenhower, Economic Policy, and the 1960 Presidential Election (1990). CBA Faculty P ublications. Paper 24. http:// /cbafacpub/24 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Business Administration, College of at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in CBA Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. President Eisenhower, Economic Policy, and the 1960 Presidential Election This article examines economic policy in the Eisenhower years and the presi- dents role in the 1960election. I measure the impact of changes in fiscal policy on real GNP and show that policy in 1959was unusually contractionary and cannot be dismissed as merely evidence of Eisenhowers fiscal conservatism. Adlai Stevenson once described the liberal hour as that time before presidential elections when even the most obsolete Repub- lican becomes momentarily reconciled to the machine age. For the most fiscally conservative president of the postwar period the liberal hour never arrived. In the 1956and 1960presidential elections President Dwight D. Eisenhower refused to engage in expansionary policies to enhance his or his partys chances for re-election. Eisenhowers refusal to stimulate the economy before either presi- dential