A History of Surpluses and Deficits in the United States

From Dave Manual via Fran and Steve. This is year by year, not cumulative. However, it is not all doom and gloom. There is a bright spot, sort of (quoted from the same web site):

While the 2009 and 2010 deficits will certainly be the largest ever (even after adjusting previous deficits for inflation), they will not even be close to the largest ever in terms of % of GDP, as you can see below:

Top Five Highest Years of Deficit vs GDP %

1943 - 30.3% of GDP
1944 - 22.8% of GDP
1945 - 21.5% of GDP
1942 - 14.2% of GDP
1983 - 6.0% of GDP

2009 Deficit Estimated to be 12-13% of GDP
2010 Deficit Estimated to be 9-10% of GDP

The biggest deficits in terms of GDP all happened during WWII, so while our current batch of wars (War On Terror, War On Drugs, War On Poverty, War On My Pet Issue of the Day) is not having same overall effect on the US as WWII, it is having a noticeable effect. Kind of a sucky effect, too.