# Jackson on the $20 **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 1, 2012, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jackson-on-the-20/639541 "2012-11-01T08:55:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2012, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jackson-on-the-20/639541/41 "2012-11-01T20:00:38Z")
Maybe they should put _Michael_ Jackson on the $20. King of Pop, after all. StG ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2012, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jackson-on-the-20/639541/42 "2012-11-01T20:13:33Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Which of JFK’s great achievements are we putting him on the $20 for? Jayne Mansfield? Marilyn? Being shot? I"ll happily put him on there for having apparently pissed in your Cheerios. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2012, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jackson-on-the-20/639541/43 "2012-11-01T20:23:09Z")
> [@StGermain](#): > > Maybe they should put _Michael_ Jackson on the $20. King of Pop, after all. > > StG And on the back, all the kids he abused. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2012, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jackson-on-the-20/639541/44 "2012-11-01T20:46:08Z")
> [@stuyguy](#): > > But _ **Grover Cleveland** _? Really? What the hell made him worthy to be on our $1,000 bill? I can think of two non-consecutive reasons. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2012, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jackson-on-the-20/639541/45 "2012-11-01T23:11:23Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > I’d be OK with shooting him first. That might be a worthwhile trade… ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2012, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jackson-on-the-20/639541/46 "2012-11-01T23:34:58Z")
Steve Jobs? I mean, people do need jobs. ---
**Author:** ![tomcar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tomcar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomcar)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2012, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jackson-on-the-20/639541/47 "2012-11-02T00:04:11Z")
I say MLK should be on the 20. He certainly was no more flawed than the forefathers and a central figure in US history. Or put Lincoln on there and get rid of the penny altogether. ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2012, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jackson-on-the-20/639541/48 "2012-11-02T00:05:03Z")
> [@phouka](#): > > **Bzzzt!** I’m sorry, **blue infinity** , the correct answer was “Theodore Roosevelt”. Who was the most badass president ever? Theodore Roosevelt. You have lost teh Intarwebz. Yeah…[no](http://www.cracked.com/video_18463_andrew-jackson-most-terrifying-man-ever-elected-president.html). ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2012, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jackson-on-the-20/639541/49 "2012-11-02T00:07:12Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > I"ll happily put him on there for having apparently pissed in your Cheerios. I don’t have anything against him. I just don’t think he was a great president. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2012, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jackson-on-the-20/639541/50 "2012-11-02T00:37:07Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > I don’t have anything against him. I just don’t think he was a great president. His handling of the Cuban missile crisis and aversion of a nuclear war is significant, no? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2012, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jackson-on-the-20/639541/51 "2012-11-02T00:40:13Z")
Significant? Sure. It’s not much of an achievement when you avert a war you would have been responsible for starting, though. By that standard, every POTUS since about 1960 was great because none of them caused a nuclear holocaust. ---
**Author:** ![rsat3acr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@rsat3acr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsat3acr)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2012, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jackson-on-the-20/639541/52 "2012-11-02T00:59:35Z")
> [@Saraya](#): > > Martin Luther King was a plagerist, adulterer, womanizer(physically as well), liar, NOT a reverend, communist sympathizer and a whole host of over things. > > Should we take his birthday celebration away, or do we still praise him cause his message was good? > > In a proper America, he’d be shunned for his false nature. Civil rights doesn’t need black ‘leaders.’ > And we could get our President’s birthdays back. > The money should never change, it give us a sense of continuity that is sorely lacking in the States. > To answer your question, who should be next, John Adams or Ron Paul. of course he is not a reverend, no one is,“reverend” is not a noun. He was THE REVEREND Martin Luther King Jr. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2012, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jackson-on-the-20/639541/53 "2012-11-02T01:15:14Z")
I don’t see any way in which it can be denied that Martin Luther King was a Reverend. He received a Bachelor of Divinity degree from Crozer Theological Seminary in 1951. (He also had a BA in sociology from Morehouse College and a Doctorate in Philosophy from Boston University.) The standards for who is entitled to call themselves a Reverend are somewhat loose, but there is no standard that would say King did not qualify. ---
**Author:** ![Rollo\_Tomasi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/58956e/32.png) [@Rollo\_Tomasi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rollo_Tomasi)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2012, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jackson-on-the-20/639541/54 "2012-11-02T01:36:12Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I don’t see any way in which it can be denied that Martin Luther King was a Reverend. He received a Bachelor of Divinity degree from Crozer Theological Seminary in 1951. (He also had a BA in sociology from Morehouse College and a Doctorate in Philosophy from Boston University.) And he was the pastor at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery (in case people are convinced that he wasn’t a reverend because he never “practiced” or something). So yeah, education + professional preacher = reverend. ---
**Author:** ![sugaree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@sugaree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sugaree)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2012, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jackson-on-the-20/639541/55 "2012-11-02T01:39:29Z")
I’m most intrigued by **Saraya’s** concept of physical womanizing as opposed to…some other kind of womanizing. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2012, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jackson-on-the-20/639541/56 "2012-11-02T02:10:02Z")
> [@drastic\_quench](#): > > The U.S. currency is far too human-centric. I would like a famous horse, or perhaps an auspicious-looking beaver, on a commonly circulated denomination. You and my mom. I was talking about this last week. I said we could have significant cultural figures, maybe John Muir, Samuel Clemens. My mom said, no, Presidents, personifications like Liberty, wildlife. I want Samuel Clemens and George Carlin on the money; I’d put Ambrose Bierce on the money, but you have to be confirmed dead. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2012, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jackson-on-the-20/639541/57 "2012-11-02T02:27:39Z")
> [@stuyguy](#): > > But _ **Grover Cleveland** _? Really? What the hell made him worthy to be on our $1,000 bill? Democratic President, elected twice, back when the GOP owned the White House. > [@StGermain](#): > > Maybe they should put _Michael_ Jackson on the $20. King of Pop, after all. Well, if we’re going that way, then let’s make it a rule just to put kings (well, royals) on the money: Michael Jackson, King of Pop Elvis Presley, King of Rock’n’Roll Jack “King” Kirby Duke Ellington um… Martin Luther King Gerald R. Ford (né Leslie King) Stout Rex, er, Rex Stout Steve McQueen er… ---
**Author:** ![rsat3acr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@rsat3acr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsat3acr)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2012, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jackson-on-the-20/639541/58 "2012-11-02T02:30:48Z")
Little Nemo and Rollo Tomasi, I am not denying his qualifications, but he is not “a reverend”. Reverend is not a noun it’s an adjuctive, He is THE reverend MLK Jr. ---
**Author:** ![Rollo\_Tomasi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/58956e/32.png) [@Rollo\_Tomasi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rollo_Tomasi)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2012, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jackson-on-the-20/639541/59 "2012-11-02T02:48:15Z")
> [@rsat3acr](#): > > Little Nemo and Rollo Tomasi, I am not denying his qualifications, but he is not “a reverend”. Reverend is not a noun it’s an adjuctive, He is THE reverend MLK Jr. It’s become a noun, frequently used interchangeably with “pastor” or “minister.” Object if you want, but that’s where the language has taken the word. Do a Google search for “I am a reverend,” and you’ll even find clergymen referring to themselves as “a reverend,” not “the reverend.” But quite frankly, I think that’s all beside the point, since I have a sneaking suspicion that **Saraya** ’s objection to the use of “reverend” for Dr. King wasn’t of a grammatical nature. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2012, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jackson-on-the-20/639541/60 "2012-11-02T03:57:25Z")
From a pragmatic view, I’d hate to put the 20’s spot up for consideration. The liberal wing of the decision committee would split among a handful of choices. The conservative fringe may go the Paul or a similarly batshit route, but the largest block would go with St. Ronnie. Ugh. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jackson-on-the-20/639541.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jackson-on-the-20/639541.md?page=4)