# Conservative Republicans want to replace FDR with Reagan on dime **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 5, 2003, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-republicans-want-to-replace-fdr-with-reagan-on-dime/217229 "2003-12-05T20:26:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2003, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-republicans-want-to-replace-fdr-with-reagan-on-dime/217229/61 "2003-12-06T03:52:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Brutus \* > \*\*Damn your literal interpretation, and touche’. > Your homework assignment: Please tell me who [these parties](http://www.dcpoliticalreport.com/PartyLink.htm) would like to see on the dime. I am especially interested in the ‘Thermodynamics Law Party’ and, of course, the ‘Imperial Authoritarian Party’. 😉 \*\* Why that last one’s easy enough…Reagan, of course. Touche’ right back. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![PatriotX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@PatriotX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatriotX)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2003, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-republicans-want-to-replace-fdr-with-reagan-on-dime/217229/62 "2003-12-06T03:54:24Z")
The good things, I mean. ---
**Author:** ![eli\_the\_fanatic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ccd318/32.png) [@eli\_the\_fanatic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eli_the_fanatic)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2003, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-republicans-want-to-replace-fdr-with-reagan-on-dime/217229/63 "2003-12-06T04:01:35Z")
Maybe we should stop putting people on money all together. Let’s just put animals on the money. And not just the militant eagle. Turkeys, otters, trout, buzzards, and armadillos. Also, take the word GOD off of money and put a new legend, like “Love Mother Earth.” Yeah, that would be cool. Oh, and a pot leaf on the dollar bill. Man, that would be cool. Cough. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2003, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-republicans-want-to-replace-fdr-with-reagan-on-dime/217229/64 "2003-12-06T04:43:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SimonX \* > \*\*I couldn’t help but notice that the Dems are on this list of “Minor Political Parties”. 😉 \*\* So are the Republicans. 😉 😉 ---
**Author:** ![HayekHeyst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/45deac/32.png) [@HayekHeyst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HayekHeyst)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2003, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-republicans-want-to-replace-fdr-with-reagan-on-dime/217229/65 "2003-12-06T04:53:29Z")
Y’know, back in the days before the Federal Reserve, currencies were privatized. Different banks would issue their own private currency, which you could redeem for gold (or get changed to other banks’ currency, I suppose) at the issuing bank. And, when I was in Britain, I noticed there were several different 10-pound notes. One was from some Scottish Bank, one was from the Bank of England, etc. So even if we don’t reprivatize the currency, we could always have several different designs for 20s. Anyone who can explain how the British system works, that’d be most helpful. Andrew Jackson should definately be ditched. But I do like the idea of putting ideological opposites on opposite sides of the coin. That’d be hilarious. Straocaster: As for FDR: most economists agree the New Deal was not a major factor in getting the US out of the Great Depression. Many of the New Deal policies actually made it worse. But, FDR did do a good job in helping defeat the Axis, so he’s got that going for him. ---
**Author:** ![pantom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/34f0e0/32.png) [@pantom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pantom)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2003, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-republicans-want-to-replace-fdr-with-reagan-on-dime/217229/66 "2003-12-06T05:32:37Z")
History of the world after 1914, the year the classical gold standard was ditched (so as to afford the hell of WWI, by the way. Had absolutely squat to do with obsolescence): 1 - WWI itself. 2 - Hyperinflation in the defeated countries in the first half of the twenties. 3 - Rampant speculation in the latter half of the twenties. 4 - The Great Depression, the longest and most destructive period of economic ruin ever. 5 - WWII, the most destructive war ever fought. Yep, that old bullion standard was indeed silly. Of course, under the de facto dollar standard of today we get to have a chronically overvalued currency that gives us massive trade, fiscal, and current account deficits. Payback on these is going to be a bitch. So bring back the Double Eagle, and all the rest. Just as long as you bring back the standard that backed them. Reagan, to get back to the OP, was the first president who truly understood that with a currency backed by exactly nothing, there was no limit to what you could spend to get yourself out of a recession. He was the ultimate Keynesian, and it was under him that the fiscal and trade deficits first got completely out of hand in a period of peace and reasonably normal economic conditions, although he is in danger of being outdone by the current occupant of the White House. So it would be extraordinarily appropriate to put his image on a piece of the currency he understood so well, and whose worth so exactly matches the worth of his Presidency. ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2003, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-republicans-want-to-replace-fdr-with-reagan-on-dime/217229/67 "2003-12-06T05:50:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by eli\_the\_fanatic \* > \*\*Maybe we should stop putting people on money all together. Let’s just put animals on the money. And not just the militant eagle. Turkeys, otters, trout, buzzards, and armadillos. > \*\* But that would make coin tosses confusing!!! ---
**Author:** ![cmason32](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@cmason32](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmason32)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2003, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-republicans-want-to-replace-fdr-with-reagan-on-dime/217229/68 "2003-12-06T07:24:54Z")
Setting aside any arguments as to whether or not the CBS movie was accurate or inaccurate, one of the complaints by conservatives about the movie was that there should not be criticisms of Reagan as he is not in a position to defend himself and that such criticisms were therefore tasteless. However, a proposal to put Reagan on the dime would (hopefully) require a thorough debate as to whether or not he is deserving to be placed on the dime. Obviously, to have such a debate, there should be criticisms and scrutiny about his presidency, something Republicans have recently said was inappropriate. If the man is no condition to defend himself, Republicans should not place him in a position whereby scrutiny would be necessary. ---
**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2003, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-republicans-want-to-replace-fdr-with-reagan-on-dime/217229/69 "2003-12-06T07:53:59Z")
I’ve got a potential reason: because only the good die young, and Nancy’s astrologer is wearing a bit thin. And as far as Reagan’s environmental policy goes, it appears to have been commemorated before the fact. Somewhere I have an Eisenhower dollar with a Bald Eagle gasping for breath on the surface of the Moon. ---
**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2003, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-republicans-want-to-replace-fdr-with-reagan-on-dime/217229/70 "2003-12-06T08:01:15Z")
[See](http://www.bizarrefun.com/FAH1821.jpg)? ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2003, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-republicans-want-to-replace-fdr-with-reagan-on-dime/217229/71 "2003-12-06T08:59:21Z")
> [@](#): > > History of the world after 1914, the year the classical gold standard was ditched (so as to afford the hell of WWI, by the way. Had absolutely squat to do with obsolescence): > > 1 - WWI itself. > 2 - Hyperinflation in the defeated countries in the first half of the twenties. > 3 - Rampant speculation in the latter half of the twenties. > 4 - The Great Depression, the longest and most destructive period of economic ruin ever. > 5 - WWII, the most destructive war ever fought. Because, of course, _before_ 1914 they never had “panics”, [inflation](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_revolution), “debased currency”, or [hideously](http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~dee/CHING/TAIPING.HTM) [destructive](http://www.bartleby.com/65/th/ThirtyYe.html) [wars](http://www.messidor.com/numbers/three/wr3allia.htm). ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2003, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-republicans-want-to-replace-fdr-with-reagan-on-dime/217229/72 "2003-12-06T09:06:25Z")
The news reported this evening that Nancy had issued a press release stating that she did not want this to occur. ---
**Author:** ![2sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/e47774/32.png) [@2sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2sense)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2003, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-republicans-want-to-replace-fdr-with-reagan-on-dime/217229/73 "2003-12-06T18:24:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MEBuckner \* > **Well, the usual practice was often to have Liberty on one side and an eagle on the other. Not so much the Statue of Liberty–which is but one representation of Liberty personified–as various renderings of Liberty.** > > \ > > \*\*Let’s recapture the glory days of… and the [“Mercury” dime](http://www.coinfacts.com/denominations/types/dimes/mercury_head_dimes.html) (which was actually Liberty again, wearing a funny hat). \*\* The hat may look funny to us moderns who don’t know what it means but it didn’t to Americans back when this nation was founded. The Statue of Liberty wears a crown, a symbol of royalty and power. The funny hat is a symbol of freedom. It’s a Phrygian or liberty cap. The imagery is from the Roman Republic. Back then the caps were given to manumitted slaves as a symbol of their new freedom. You can see Lady Liberty with cap on the state seals of Arkansas, Idaho, New Jersey, New York, and North Carolina. She is pictured holding it perched upon a liberty pole. The liberty cap is also on the seal of West Virginia resting upon 2 rifles indicating that state’s intention to fight against slavery. ---
**Author:** ![gluteus\_maximus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f17d59/32.png) [@gluteus\_maximus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gluteus_maximus)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2003, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-republicans-want-to-replace-fdr-with-reagan-on-dime/217229/74 "2003-12-06T18:38:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by spectrum \* > \*\* There are six bills ($1, $5, $10, $20, $50 and $100), \*\* Seven, actually… You forgot the [$2 bill](http://www.moneyfactory.com/section.cfm/4/26). ---
**Author:** ![pantom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/34f0e0/32.png) [@pantom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pantom)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2003, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-republicans-want-to-replace-fdr-with-reagan-on-dime/217229/75 "2003-12-06T18:46:26Z")
Nice list. Entertaining, even. Has nothing to do with the issue at hand, though. The evidence shows you can have a huge war, or you can maintain a gold standard. _ **You can’t do both.** _ Great Britain during the period from the 1700s to the 1900s suspended the convertibility of its currency to gold twice: during the Napoleonic Wars and of course at the beginning of World War One. > [@](#): > > The wars with France which began in 1793 and lasted some 22 years put an enormous strain on the nation’s finances. In 1797 the Government was obliged to protect the gold reserves for the war effort by declaring the Bank’s notes inconvertible. This ‘Restriction Period’, as it was known, continued for six years after the end of the war, until 1821…As with the French wars a century before, the First World War saw the link with gold broken and the issue of low denomination notes once more. A vain attempt was made in 1925 to return to the discipline of the gold standard but it failed and in 1931 the United Kingdom left the standard for good. The country’s gold and foreign exchange reserves were transferred to the Treasury although their day-to-day management was and still is handled by the Bank. The note issue became entirely fiduciary, that is to say not backed by gold. from [http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/natcentral.htm](http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/natcentral.htm) The suspension of the gold standard had nothing to do with economics, and everything to do with going to war. As went Great Britain, so went the rest of the world, given their importance at the time in international trade. See also: [Suspension of Cash Payments by Bank of England](http://www.gold.org/value/official/history/monetary_history/vol1/1797feb27.html) [Resumption of Gold Standard](http://www.gold.org/value/official/history/monetary_history/vol1/1819may21.html) [Off the Gold Standard Again in 1914](http://www.gold.org/value/official/history/monetary_history/vol2/1914aug6.html) As to economic panics, name me one occuring during the maintenance of an international gold standard during the nineteenth and early twentieth century that lasted as long as the Great Depression. The simple fact of the matter is that the Great Depression happened _after_ the demise of the gold standard, and I know of no panics that happened during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in the industrialized world that lasted as long or were nearly as ruinous as that event. Of course if you’re a warmonger like Reagan or the current idiot in the White House, not having to maintain a disciplined currency is like manna from Heaven. You can maintain vast armies and do with them whatever you like wherever you like, at least until the currency completely collapses under the weight of this stupendous folly. ---
**Author:** ![SuaSponte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/67e7ee/32.png) [@SuaSponte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuaSponte)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2003, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-republicans-want-to-replace-fdr-with-reagan-on-dime/217229/76 "2003-12-06T20:08:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by John Mace \* > **Yeah, and he was so hated by the American people during his first term that [there was one entire state he didn’t carry in his re-election bid, and he only got 60% of the popular vote.](http://en2.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._presidential_election,_1984)** **John,** I would say that there a legitimate argument to be made that Regan deserves commemoration on some form of US currency, be it the dime or elsewhere. This argument ain’t it, unless you also think that Calvin Coolidge should get the $50 bill. Sua ---
**Author:** ![Priam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/77aa72/32.png) [@Priam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Priam)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2003, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-republicans-want-to-replace-fdr-with-reagan-on-dime/217229/77 "2003-12-06T20:56:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sofa King \* > \*\*[See](http://www.bizarrefun.com/FAH1821.jpg)? \*\* Ike was not a really photogenic man, but even he didn’t deserve such an ugly profile on coinage. My God! Who engraved that? A two year old? ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2003, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-republicans-want-to-replace-fdr-with-reagan-on-dime/217229/78 "2003-12-06T21:00:47Z")
Lyndon Johnson lost only one state in 1964. I don’t remember the percentage of the vote that he carried. His motto was “Let Us Continue.” (He was continuing all of those things that people now claim that Kennedy didn’t do.) No, I don’t want LBJ on a coin. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2003, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-republicans-want-to-replace-fdr-with-reagan-on-dime/217229/79 "2003-12-07T01:32:16Z")
Look, this whole idea is just a partisan propaganda tactic just like nameing that fucking airport after him. There are much worthier candidates for enshrinement on a coin than a guy who quadrupled the national debt, supported terrorism and committed treason. How about Martin Luther King, for instance? ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_of\_Sandwhich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/91b2a8/32.png) [@Earl\_of\_Sandwhich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_of_Sandwhich)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2003, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-republicans-want-to-replace-fdr-with-reagan-on-dime/217229/80 "2003-12-07T02:16:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Zoe \* > **Lyndon Johnson lost only one state in 1964.** Johnson actually lost several statesin 1964 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-republicans-want-to-replace-fdr-with-reagan-on-dime/217229.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-republicans-want-to-replace-fdr-with-reagan-on-dime/217229.md?page=5)