Normalize the numbers to account for the difference in time, the properly allocate those expenses which are for the war and those which are due to other reasons, then try again.
First, debt is debt. Second, after WWII the interest payments on the debt where not the seconds largest item in the budget.
From
http://www.cato.org/dailys/10-20-97.html
"Or consider the aftermath of World War II (1945-1951). Federal expenditures were sliced in half, from $92.7 billion to $45.5 billion. By 1950 total taxes were sliced by 15 percent, though the tax burden was still much higher than it had been before the war. The federal government ran healthy budget surpluses in four of the five post-World War II years."
If, after WWII, the goverment could run a surplus, why can't it now?