15 Surprising 'Lasts' For US Presidents

Years In Office: 1993-2001

Presidential Last: When Bill Clinton became president, the budget of the United States was at a $290 billion deficit. The Clinton administration introduced a robust economic plan and, coupled with an economic upturn, the budget surplus of the country reached its highest level ever.

By the end of the Clinton presidency, the budget surplus was $237 billion.

Years In Office: 1901-1909

Presidential Last: Harry S. Truman didn't have a middle name (intended to honor both of his grandfathers, Anderson Shipp Truman and Solomon Young), but he did have an initial. As a result, the last US president without anything other than a first and last name was Teddy Roosevelt. 

Theodore Roosevelt Jr was named after his father, a man who also didn't have a middle name. Middle names as common didn't gain widespread popularity until around 1900. That said, Roosevelt's successor, William Howard Taft, is rarely mentioned without his middle name. 

Years In Office: 1989-1993

Presidential Last: President Jimmy Carter was the first future Commander-in-Chief born in a hospital, but it wasn't until George H.W. Bush that the United States saw the last man born at home serve in the Oval Office. 

Bush, born on June 12, 1924, came into the world on the second floor of his family's home in Milton, Massachusetts. The family moved to Connecticut soon after. 

Years In Office: 1897-1901

Presidential Last: Established in 1865, the United States Secret Service was initially tasked with addressing counterfeiting and other financial crimes. By the 1890s, the organization provided part-time protection to the US president, although it was informal. 

It wasn't until after President William McKinley was assassinated in 1901 that Congress asked the US Secret Service to protect the president. In 1906, Congress passed the Sundry Civil Expenses Act and allocated funds for the Secret Service to protect the president. By that point, the new president, Teddy Roosevelt, had already started receiving Secret Service protection.

Years In Office: 1945-1953

Presidential Last: After graduating from high school, Harry S. Truman worked and served in the Missouri National Guard. He rose to the ranks of the military during World War One and, upon his return to the US, entered politics. 

Truman gained political prestige as a US Senator and was nominated to be President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's vice presidential running-mate in 1944. After Roosevelt passed away in April 1945, Truman became president. Months later, he made the decision to drop atomic bombs on Japan and oversaw the end of WW2. He never attended college or completed a degree. 

Years In Office: 1845-1849

Presidential Last: James Buchanan (president from 1857-1861), a lifelong bachelor, had no biological children he adopted Harriet Lane, his niece, and his nephew, Henry James Buchanan. 

Warren G. Harding, the 29th President of the United States, didn't have any legitimate children, but he had at least one child via a mistress. Elizabeth Ann Blaesing was born in 1919 to Nan Britton, although Harding did not meet her. 

James K. Polk and his wife, Sarah, had no biological or adopted children. Historians speculate that Polk was left infertile by a medical procedure to remove bladder stones. The Polks did help raise Marshall Tate Polk, a nephew, but there was no formal adoption.