# "in god we trust"-but not before 1957? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 25, 2000, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-god-we-trust-but-not-before-1957/20531 "2000-05-25T18:38:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![soulsling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@soulsling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/soulsling)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2000, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-god-we-trust-but-not-before-1957/20531/1 "2000-05-25T18:38:54Z")
What was the reason behind that? i’ve done searches, and found only the facts regarding the time of the legend “In God We Trust” added to US currency in 1957, but no reason why. What’s up with that? And who’s responsible? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2000, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-god-we-trust-but-not-before-1957/20531/2 "2000-05-25T19:04:39Z")
In 1957, the motto had been on our coins for nearly a century. See [http://www.treas.gov/opc/opc0011.html](http://www.treas.gov/opc/opc0011.html) It was the first link that came up with Google, BTW. Try using that for your searching ([http://www.google.com](http://www.google.com)). ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2000, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-god-we-trust-but-not-before-1957/20531/3 "2000-05-25T20:03:39Z")
You need to watch more “Who Wants to be a Millionaire.” They asked what the first coin to see In God We Trust on it. Thanks to RealityChuck’s x3 post, we can find out that it was the 2-cent coin. ---
**Author:** ![Kilgore\_Trout\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6de8d8/32.png) [@Kilgore\_Trout\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilgore_Trout_1)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2000, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-god-we-trust-but-not-before-1957/20531/4 "2000-05-25T22:41:36Z")
i am sure this is what you recall seeing: > [@](#): > > **A law passed by the 84th Congress (P.L. 84-140) and approved by the President on July 30, 1956, the President approved a Joint Resolution of the 84th Congress, declaring IN GOD WE TRUST the national motto of the United States. IN GOD WE TRUST was first used on paper money in 1957, when it appeared on the one-dollar silver certificate. The first paper currency bearing the motto entered circulation on October 1, 1957.** source:[http://www.treas.gov/opc/opc0011.html](http://www.treas.gov/opc/opc0011.html) who’s responsible? > [@](#): > > **The next step in the process of religionizing the national currency had to wait nearly a century, when on July 11.1955, _President Dwight D. Eisenhower_ signed Public Law 140 making it mandatory that all coinage and paper currency display the motto “In God We Trust.” The following year, Public Law 851 was enacted and signed, which officially replaced the national motto “E Pluribus Unum” with “In God We Trust”** source: [http://www.atheists.org/flash.line/igwt1.htm](http://www.atheists.org/flash.line/igwt1.htm) ---
**Author:** ![soulsling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@soulsling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/soulsling)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2000, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-god-we-trust-but-not-before-1957/20531/5 "2000-05-26T02:57:31Z")
wow. thanx. yeah, i was really only thinking of paper currency, forgot about the coins. :rolleyes: kind of makes you wonder about the church and state thing that just becuase of the religious sentiment among the troops during the civil war they would request the motto be stamped on the coins. ---
**Author:** ![Weirddave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Weirddave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weirddave)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2000, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-god-we-trust-but-not-before-1957/20531/6 "2000-05-26T03:20:38Z")
FWIW, Teddy Roosevelt tried to have “In God We Trust” removed from U.S. coins,(it was first added in 1864)claiming it was both unconstitutional and sacrilegious, but was rebuffed. I guess the early 1900s was not the time to do attempt this. My guess is that had he succeded, Woodrow Wilson would have restored it. Wilson was a hard core bible thumper all his life, and felt his every deed was ordained by God :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2000, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-god-we-trust-but-not-before-1957/20531/7 "2000-05-26T03:30:25Z")
The **OP** wonders why the motto was added to currency in 1957. It is eplained, IMHO, [here](http://www.tinmen.org/radnews/notax.html) The URL indicates that church membership in America grew from 49% in the 1940’s to 69% by the late '50’s. America certainly underwent a religious revival in the '50’s. It was probably due to those nasty commies. So the religious conservative right should probably thank the Russians for their help. God works in mysterious ways. ---
**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:** [May 26, 2000, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-god-we-trust-but-not-before-1957/20531/8 "2000-05-26T03:54:05Z")
Perhaps you were thinking of “one nation, _under God_, indivisible,” which was added to the Pledge of Allegiance at roughly the same time. Ike and his contemporaries were playing up the “Godless communist” angle pretty hard back in those days. [Moment of reflection: back then, if you were “Godless” you were likely to be impoverished and communist. Now, if you are “Godless,” you’re more likely to be gainfully employed as a [techie](http://altatheismrelated.ableweb.net/aalist.htm) and laughing at preachers telling the world that hard drives can be possessed by [demonic spirits.](http://www.applelinks.com/articles/2000/03/20000310152020.shtml)] ---
**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:** [May 26, 2000, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-god-we-trust-but-not-before-1957/20531/9 "2000-05-26T03:57:49Z")
I’d just like to add that having to put quotes around a url is lame. [Lame example one](http://altatheismrelated.ableweb.net/aalist.htm) [Lame example two](http://www.applelinks.com/articles/2000/03/20000310152020.shtml) ---
**Author:** ![Tedster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4491bb/32.png) [@Tedster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tedster)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2000, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-god-we-trust-but-not-before-1957/20531/10 "2000-06-14T12:08:58Z")
President Theodore Roosevelt did in fact have the motto removed from the $20 gold piece. His reasoning was money is used for a myriad of purposes, some noble, some… not. (Prostitution, for example) Since money can be used in bad ways, he felt it extremely bad to have the Deity engraved on our coinage. It makes a kind of sense, in a way.