text: “Reagan proved that deficits don't matter.” Dick Cheney, Jan. 9, 2004
  
  Gerald Ford: Added $224 billion, a 47% increase in the $475 billion debt level at the end of Nixon's last budget, FY 1974.
  Jimmy Carter: Added $299 billion, a 43% increase in the $699 billion debt level at the end of  Ford's last budget, FY 1977.
  Ronald Reagan: Added $1.86 trillion, 186% increase in the $998 billion debt level at the end of Carter's last budget, FY 1981.
  George H.W. Bush: Added $1.554 trillion, a 54% increase in the $2.8 trillion debt level at the end of Reagan's last budget, FY 1989.
  Bill Clinton: Added $1.396 trillion, a 32% increase to the $4.4 trillion debt level at the end of Bush's last budget, FY 1993.
  George W. Bush: Added $5.849  trillion, a 101% increase to the $5.8 trillion debt level at the end of Clinton's last budget, FY 2001. 
  Barack Obama: Added $6.494 trillion, a 56% increase in the $11.657 trillion debt level attributable to President Bush by the end of his last budget, FY 2009.