(MONEY Magazine) – ''Our goal, which is a goal we think we can achieve during fiscal year 1972, is to operate with a balanced budget.'' -- President Richard Nixon, July 1970 1972 federal budget deficit: $23.4 billion

''We feel that you can hold the line and restrain federal spending, give a tax reduction and still have a balanced budget by 1978.'' -- President Gerald Ford, September 1976 1978 deficit: $59 billion

''I intend to keep my commitment of a balanced budget at the end of four years. -- President Jimmy Carter, December 1976 1980 deficit: $73.8 billion

''I have submitted an economic plan that I have worked out in concert with a number of fine economists, all of whom believe that it can provide for a balanced budget by 1983, if not earlier.'' -- Presidential candidate Ronald Reagan, October 1980 1983 deficit: $207.8 billion

''This Administration is committed to a balanced budget, and we will fight to the last blow to achieve it by 1984.'' -- President Ronald Reagan, September 1981 1984 deficit: $185.3 billion

National debt, 1972: $438.2 billion National debt, mid-1987: $2.3 trillion