The last time the government was debt-free was in 1835 when Andrew Jackson, a Democrat, was the president. The problem, of course, was that there have been too many years when the federal budget was not balanced between revenue and spending.
In the last 83 years, there have been only 13 years in which the federal government's budget didn't end the year with a deficit. The closest thing to a truly balanced budget occurred in 1938 when there was a slight deficit and happened again in 1960 when there was a small surplus.
President Dwight Eisenhower balanced the budget two consecutive years in 1956 and 1957 and did it a third time in 1960. The next time the budget was balanced was in 1969 after a tax increase was passed in 1968 by President Johnson to help pay for the Vietnam War.
The only president to balance the federal budget four straight years was Bill Clinton, who did it from 1998 to 2001.
The two presidents who increased the present national debt the most were Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, both Republicans. Reagan tripled it during his two terms in office and Bush doubled it in his tenure.
Republican presidents love to cut taxes, but they also love to spend more than they collect in taxes. That's why America is in debt today.
DAVID L. FAUST,