End of Fiscal Year / Debt (in Billions, Rounded) / Major Events by Presidential Term

1929 $17 Market crash
1930 $16 Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act reduced trade
1931 $17 Dust Bowl drought raged
1932 $20 Hoover raised taxes
1933 $23 New Deal increased GDP and debt
1934 $27
1935 $29 Social Security
1936 $34 Tax hikes renewed Great Depression
1937 $36 Third New Deal
1938 $37 Dust Bowl ended
1939 $40 Depression ended
1940 $43 FDR increased spending and raised taxes
1941 $49 U.S. entered World War II
1942 $72 Defense tripled
1943 $137
1944 $201 Bretton Woods Agreement
1945 $259 World War II ended
1946 $269 Truman’s first-term budgets and recession
1947 $258 Cold War
1948 $252 Recession
1949 $253 Recession
1950 $257 Korean War boosted growth and debt
1951 $255
1952 $259
1953 $266 Recession when war ended
1954 $271 Eisenhower’s budgets and recession
1955 $274
1956 $273
1957 $271 Recession
1958 $276 Eisenhower’s 2nd term and recession
1959 $285 Fed raised rates
1960 $286 Recession
1961 $289 Bay of Pigs
1962 $298 JFK budgets and Cuban Missile Crisis
1963 $306 U.S. aids Vietnam; JFK killed
1964 $312 LBJ’s budgets and war on poverty
1965 $317 U.S. entered Vietnam War
1966 $320
1967 $326
1968 $348
1969 $354 Nixon took office
1970 $371 Recession
1971 $398 Wage-price controls
1972 $427 Stagflation
1973 $458 Nixon ended gold standard; OPEC oil embargo
1974 $475 Watergate; Nixon resigns; budget process created
1975 $533 Vietnam War ended
1976 $620 Stagflation
1977 $699 Stagflation
1978 $772 Carter budgets and recession
1979 $827
1980 $908 Fed Chairman Volcker raised fed rate to 20%
1981 $998 Reagan tax cut
1982 $1,142 Reagan increased spending
1983 $1,377 Jobless rate 10.8%
1984 $1,572 Increased defense spending
1985 $1,823
1986 $2,125 Reagan lowered taxes
1987 $2,350 Market crash
1988 $2,602 Fed raised rates
Reagan raised National Debt $1.694 Trillion
1989 $2,857 S&L Crisis
1990 $3,233 First Iraq War
1991 $3,665 Recession
1992 $4,065
Bush 1 raised National Debt $1.463 Trillion
1993 $4,411 Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act
1994 $4,693 Clinton budgets
1995 $4,974
1996 $5,225 Welfare reform
1997 $5,413
1998 $5,526 Long-Term Capital Management crisis; recession
1999 $5,656 Glass-Steagall Act repealed
2000 $5,674 Clinton Budget surplus year, but debt still went up that year
Clinton raised National Debt $1.609 Trillion
2001 $5,807 9/11 attacks; Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act
2002 $6,228 War on Terror
2003 $6,783 Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act; second Iraq War
2004 $7,379 Second Iraq War
2005 $7,933 Bankruptcy Act; Hurricane Katrina
2006 $8,507 Bernanke chaired Fed
2007 $9,008 Banks crisis
2008 $10,025 Bank bailouts; quantitative easing (QE)
Bush 2 raised National Debt $4.351 Trillion
2009 $11,910 Bailout cost $250 billion; American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) added $242 billion
2010 $13,562 ARRA added $400B; payroll tax holiday ended; Obama tax cuts; Affordable Care Act; Simpson-Bowles debt reduction plan
2011 $14,790 Debt crisis, recession, and tax cuts reduced revenue
2012 $16,066 Fiscal cliff
2013 $16,738 Sequester; government shutdown
2014 $17,824 QE ended; debt ceiling crisis
2015 $18,151 Oil prices fell
2016 $19,573 Brexit
Obama raised National Debt $9.548 Trillion
2017 $20,245 Congress raised the debt ceiling
2018 $21,516 Trump tax cuts
2019 $22,719 Trade wars
2020 $26,945 COVID-19 and recession
Trump 45 raised National Debt $7.372 Trillion
2021 $28,428 COVID-19 and American Rescue Plan Act
2022 $30,928 Inflation Reduction Act
2023 $33,167 Rising interest rates
2024 $35,464 Credit rating downgrade
Biden raised National Debt $8.519 Trillion
Source: U.S. Treasury