Reagan was the first to crack a trillion dollar deficit. His spending practices were so bad, he actually caused not one but two recessions during his presidency. He took credit for the fall of the USSR (even though it happened in 1991) because he outspent them with military spending, which at the time was 50% of the budget.
While slashing budgets and agencies, he more than made up for that by hiring federal workers so they could spend us out of the recession.