Dwight Eisenhower was still in his first term the Oval Office the last time the nation experienced a drop in consumer prices, until now. The Labor Department reported this week that the Consumer Price Index, used to measure the rate of inflation, declined 0.4% over the last year, the first time that’s happened since 1955. Economists attributed the unheard of drop in prices to the dramatic decline in the price of gasoline—going from a national average of about $3.24 a gallon in March 2008 to the current cost of $1.96. But officials insist the fall in overall prices is not an indication that the nation is now headed for a stretch of deflation, which is viewed as a sign of economic weakness.