U.S. National Debt Reaches $1 Trillion…..
October 22, 1981…….
It took until 1974 to reach $500 billion in debt. That amount doubled in only seven years to reach $1 trillion.
When U.S. President Ronald Reagan took office in January of 1981, the gross domestic debt, as a percentage of the nation’s annual income, had reached 32.5% – its lowest point since 1931. However, a series of tax cuts and expanded military spending and Reagan’s economic policies raised the national debt from approximately $900 billion to over $2 trillion. His administration transformed the United States from the world’s leading creditor (as late as 1983) to the number-one debtor by 1986.