Which Republican presidents really supported "limited government"?

[buritobr]

The US Republican Party is known as the party of limited government, laissez-faire, economic liberalism (liberalism in the non-American meaning).
But which Republican presidents really put the limited government in practice? Maybe, only Harding, Coolidge, Hoover and Reagan.

The 19th century GOP supported protectionism, supported the theory of the infant industry
Teddy Roosevelt was an anti-trust president
Nixon said that "we are all keynesians", used expantionary monetary policies, price controls
Bush, Bush and Trump are not really pro limited government too.

Reagan was usually pro limited government, but he had no problem in using activism to support the American car manufacturers which were losing ground to the Japanese ones.

[RINO Tom]

Limited government has nothing to do with ideology, so conservatism has both used it and ignored it at various points in the party's history, naturally.

[mencken]

The US Republican Party is known as the party of limited government, laissez-faire, economic liberalism (liberalism in the non-American meaning).
But which Republican presidents really put the limited government in practice? Maybe, only Harding, Coolidge, Hoover and Reagan.

LOL

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[TheElectoralBoobyPrize]

Eisenhower and Ford did at least veto a number of spending bills.

The two Bushes and even Nixon did appoint judges who would later go on to make some pro-"limited government" rulings.

We should at least wait until Trump is in office before judging him..he may take some "limited government" stances as an outreach to the "Never Trump" faction of the party.

Overall though, I think you could make a case that the GOP Congresses have been more pro-"limited government" than the GOP Presidents, Hastert's Congress being the exception.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Limited government has nothing to do with ideology, so conservatism has both used it and ignored it at various points in the party's history, naturally.

This is the correct answer.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Certainly none of the ones since WW2. Obviously not Lincoln either.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Pointless question.

[Sir Mohamed]

Almost all GOP presidents since TR deregulated the economy. You can call this limited government, but I assume the original poster means the size of government.

The last ones were really Harding and Coolidge. That Reagan limited the size of the federal government is a myth (like many other things about the 40th president as well). He slowed down the speed of government growth, but he did not reduce the size of the federal government although he cut several social programs. He was for a limited government in theory, but did not implement it. Hoover, Eisenhower and Nixon increased the government; Ford tried in some ways to make it smaller but faced congressional opposition. Both Bushes did also not limit the federal government.

An interesting random fact: In 1932, FDR also campaigned on a smaller size of government. Wikipedia: Roosevelt promised to "abolish useless offices" and "eliminate unnecessary functions of Government", stating that "Government – Federal and State and local – costs too much", and even promised to help facilitate the "restoration of the trade of the world".

[mencken]

The last ones were really Harding, Coolidge and Hoover....

An interesting random fact: In 1932, FDR also campaigned on a smaller size of government. Wikipedia: Roosevelt promised to "abolish useless offices" and "eliminate unnecessary functions of Government", stating that "Government – Federal and State and local – costs too much", and even promised to help facilitate the "restoration of the trade of the world".

He campaigned on limited government in contrast to his predecessor. Where does this idea that Hoover was a limited-government ideologue and not a progressive technocrat come from, certainly not anything even remotely grounded in reality? Is it just a necessary fiction to maintain the progressive gospel that "the free-market led to the Great Depression and redistribution programs fixed it"?

[Sir Mohamed]

The last ones were really Harding, Coolidge and Hoover....

An interesting random fact: In 1932, FDR also campaigned on a smaller size of government. Wikipedia: Roosevelt promised to "abolish useless offices" and "eliminate unnecessary functions of Government", stating that "Government – Federal and State and local – costs too much", and even promised to help facilitate the "restoration of the trade of the world".

He campaigned on limited government in contrast to his predecessor. Where does this idea that Hoover was a limited-government ideologue and not a progressive technocrat come from, certainly not anything even remotely grounded in reality? Is it just a necessary fiction to maintain the progressive gospel that "the free-market led to the Great Depression and redistribution programs fixed it"?

My bad, I wanted Hoover to be added to Nixon and Eisenhower. Corrected now.

[TheElectoralBoobyPrize]

Almost all GOP presidents since TR deregulated the economy. You can call this limited government, but I assume the original poster means the size of government.

Nixon deregulated? Not sure Taft did either...as his disputes with T.R. were more about style than substance.

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Reagan's still the only postwar president who decreased the share of the federal budget going to social programs (and Clinton comes in second with the smallest increase).