President Reagan on currency?


This page was last updated on July 8, 2004.


  I'm sure this will disappoint liberals, but I don't believe we need to put Ronald Reagan's image on our currency to cement his legacy.  The reason to me is simple.  It's not that Reagan doesn't deserve to be on a piece of currency, it's that no one currently on our coins and paper money did anything to deserve being kicked off.

Let's look at some of the ideas floated.

Some Republicans would like to see FDR or JFK replaced on the dime or half-dollar, respectively.  Democrats object vigorously because these men are Democrat icons.  It is irrelevant that the current Democrat party has little in common with many of the beliefs of these men.  Democrats say replacing either man would display disrespect.  If you buy into the disrespect story, consider the following.  Democrats had no problem disrespecting Benjamin Franklin by replacing him with JFK and Dwight Eisenhower by replacing him on the dollar coin with Susan B. Anthony, however.  I'm not a fan of FDR or JFK but I see no reason to bump them.

Some people want Reagan to replace Alexander Hamilton on the $10 bill noting that Hamilton was not a president.  Neither were Benjamin Franklin or Sacagawea, but Hamilton doesn't have the popularity of Franklin or the PC protection of Sacagawea.  To avoid confusion, I don't advocate replacing Franklin on the $100 bill.

Though Hamilton was not a president, he was a Founding Father of the United States.  He was George Washington's aide-de-camp (military aide) during the Revolutionary War as well as a battalion commander, called for the first Constitutional Convention, was the first Treasury Secretary, and wrote most of The Federalist papers.  As the first Treasury Secretary, Hamilton put into place the financial foundations we use to this day.  During this time he also founded the Coast Guard -- then called the Revenue Marine, played a central role in creation of the Navy, and proposed a Naval Academy.

To me, the first Treasury Secretary deserves his place on the $10 bill, especially given his extraordinary contributions to this republic.

I'm all for honoring Ronald Reagan in an appropriate fashion, but I don't want to see it come at the expense of another great American.  We need to remember our early great Americans, not forget them.  I have no basis to make this comment, but I'd like to believe Reagan would agree.


© 2004 Robert W. Cox, all rights reserved.