# Reagan on the dime?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reagan-on-the-dime/217282
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [December 6, 2003, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reagan-on-the-dime/217282 "2003-12-06T00:41:43Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Garnet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garnet)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2003, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reagan-on-the-dime/217282/1 "2003-12-06T00:41:43Z")
Looks like there’s a bill in Congress now to put former President Ronald Reagan on the dime (see [http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/12/05/dime/index.html](http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/12/05/dime/index.html))
Without getting into the question of whether this is a good idea: could it even be done? I was under the impression that only deceased or allegorical figures could be pictured on U.S. money (and that Eisenhower’s inclusion on the silver dollar a year or so before his death was an exception). Am I mistaken? What is the law about what can be featured on U.S. currency?
---
### Author:  [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2003, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reagan-on-the-dime/217282/2 "2003-12-06T03:02:08Z")
A law passed in 1866 states that no living person may appear on any U.S. coin or currency. Then again, it’s just a law, not a constitutional requirement, so Congress could change the law if it wanted to.
---
### Author:  [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2003, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reagan-on-the-dime/217282/3 "2003-12-06T03:12:43Z")
If Congress passed a law about it (and I have doubts they did) they can pass another to undo it.
What you’re probably thinking of is images on stamps. The Postal Service has a rule (don’t know if it’s a law or not) against having live people on stamps. I think they must be dead for a certain length of time, something like 5 years, but I could be wrong about that.
The reason they wouldn’t have such a law or rule about coins and currency is that nothing changes on those without Congress’s approval anyway. Having a law in regards to the living status of who’s on them would be redundant.
---
### Author:  [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2003, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reagan-on-the-dime/217282/4 "2003-12-06T03:17:25Z")
Oops, should have previewed. So there is a law, but as I said, it’s redundant.
---
### Author:  [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2003, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reagan-on-the-dime/217282/5 "2003-12-06T03:40:32Z")
Regarding stamps, according to [this USPS website page](http://www.usps.com/communications/organization/csac.htm), it’s USPS policy that no living person be portrayed on a postage stamp until at least ten years after the person’s death, with the exception of Presidents (including ex-Presidents), who can be portrayed on a stamp on the first birth anniversary after they die. For Reagan, who was born on Feb. 6, 1911, if he were to die tomorrow, he could be portrayed on a memorial stamp no earlier than Feb. 6, 2004 (if I’m reading this correctly - seems a bit convoluted, doesn’t it?).
As far as I can tell, this is just a policy, not based on any statute or formally adopted administrative rule.
---
### Author:  [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2003, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reagan-on-the-dime/217282/6 "2003-12-06T05:28:59Z")
The dime? Sorry, I can’t see it that happening at all. Franklin Roosevelt is at LEAST as big an icon to the Democrats as Reagan is the conservatives, so I can’t believe the Democrats would sit still for removing FDR from the dime. Heck, even Reagan himself regularly sang the praises of FDR!
If Reagan is to appear on any coin, it’ll be the half dollar, which nobody seems to stay on for very long!
---
### Author:  [@myles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/myles)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2003, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reagan-on-the-dime/217282/7 "2003-12-06T05:43:29Z")
If Salmon P. Chase can make it on the 10,000 dollar bill, I see absolutely no reason why Reagan can’t make it onto some equally preposterous issue of currency.
---
### Author:  [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2003, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reagan-on-the-dime/217282/8 "2003-12-06T14:03:14Z")
I wonder if the Reagan they want to immortalize on the dime is the same one who, when he was governor of California and the SLA kidnaped Patty Hearst and demanded millions of dollars in free food for needy people, said, “It’s too bad we can’t have an epidemic of botulism.” (Source, _Esquire)_
Or the same Reagan who, discussing third-world countries in 1976 (he was no longer governor then), said, “The United States has much to offer the third world war.” In that one speech he repeated the same error nine times. Duhh… :rolleyes:
---
### Author:  [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2003, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reagan-on-the-dime/217282/9 "2003-12-06T15:31:12Z")
In the light of Reagan’s overall effect on the nation, it would be more fitting to put his picture on all US bonds.
---
### Author:  [@heywalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/heywalt)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2003, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reagan-on-the-dime/217282/10 "2003-12-06T15:36:47Z")
Nancy Reagan even released a statement saying that she didn’t think it was a good idea. And she said that she was certain that Ronald himself wouldn’t want it done.
---
### Author:  [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2003, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reagan-on-the-dime/217282/11 "2003-12-06T16:15:58Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by AskNott \*
> \*\*In the light of Reagan’s overall effect on the nation, it would be more fitting to put his picture on all US bonds. \*\*
He shoots! He scores!! 😃
---
### Author:  [@gluteus\_maximus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gluteus_maximus)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2003, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reagan-on-the-dime/217282/12 "2003-12-06T17:07:19Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Garnet \*
> \*\*I was under the impression that only deceased or allegorical figures could be pictured on U.S. money (and that Eisenhower’s inclusion on the silver dollar a year or so before his death was an exception). Am I mistaken? \*\*
and
> [@](#):
>
> _Originally posted by Early Out_
> **For Reagan, who was born on Feb. 6, 1911, if he were to die tomorrow,**
You mean Ron’s not dead yet?
Maybe those Republican senators know something that we don’t…
---
### Author:  [@Garnet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garnet)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2003, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reagan-on-the-dime/217282/13 "2003-12-06T17:35:27Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by gluteus maximus \*
> \*\*Maybe those Republican senators know something that we don’t… \*\*
You mean our country was run by an allegorical figure for 8 years? _gasp_ 😉
---
### Author:  [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2003, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reagan-on-the-dime/217282/14 "2003-12-06T17:54:07Z")
I would be sorely disappointed if this happened, and not just because I don’t care for Ronald Reagan. It’s just that the story of how FDR got on the dime is so neat. I mean, Roosevelt was instrumental in the founding of the “March of Dimes”, and after his death his portrait was placed on the dime to honor that memory; how could anyone even _think_ of taking him off?
---
### Author:  [@myles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/myles)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2003, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reagan-on-the-dime/217282/15 "2003-12-06T18:08:44Z")
Maybe Reagan should be on the nickel, since so many people were NICKLE and dimed under his administration.
---
### Author:  [@schplebordnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/schplebordnik)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2003, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reagan-on-the-dime/217282/16 "2003-12-06T18:13:45Z")
I wonder if the Roosevelt they have immortalized on the dime is the same one who, as president, ordered that US citizens be put in concentration camps based solely on their ethnicity. Source: U.S. v. Korematsu
Dougie\_Monty: if we play your game, I’m afraid we probably wind up with most of our money having Reagan on it, as last time I checked, the dollar bill, the quarter, and the nickel all had slave holders on them too. Oh, and the twenty has got a guy who told the Supreme Court to eff off when it rule that he couldn’t evict the Cherokee from their native lands in Northern Georgia and South-eastern Tennessee.
---
### Author:  [@schplebordnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/schplebordnik)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2003, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reagan-on-the-dime/217282/17 "2003-12-06T18:18:49Z")
After they get done with the “state” quarters, maybe they can do a incremental series of “former president” quarters, starting with Washington, up to whoever is the last one that is dead (the “Tricky Dick” quarter). If nothing else, would encourage more coin collecting, taking the specie out of circulation and helping with the debt.
---
### Author:  [@brianmelendez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brianmelendez)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2003, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reagan-on-the-dime/217282/18 "2003-12-06T21:30:43Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Garnet \*
> **I was under the impression that only deceased or allegorical figures could be pictured on U.S. money (and that Eisenhower’s inclusion on the silver dollar a year or so before his death was an exception).**
Dwight Eisenhower died in [March 1969](http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/de34.html). The bill authorizing the Eisenhower dollar was introduced in [October 1969](http://www.coinpeople.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=32) and enacted in December 1970. The first Eisenhower dollars were minted in 1971.
---
### Author:  [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2003, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reagan-on-the-dime/217282/19 "2003-12-07T01:19:52Z")
I don’t much care for the idea of actually REMOVING someone from a position of honor on our currency. Why remove FDR? What, did he suddenly become unworthy of the honor, somehow?
If the Republicans are so damn anxious to put Reagan on a coin, then let them invent a new coin to put him on. Another dollar coin, perhaps. After all, they say the third time’s the charm.
And it’s hard to disagree with the idea that his rightful place is on US bonds…
---
### Author:  [@netscape\_6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/netscape_6)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2003, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reagan-on-the-dime/217282/20 "2003-12-07T01:45:36Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by schplebordnik \*
> \*\* Oh, and the twenty has got a guy who told the Supreme Court to eff off when it rule that he couldn’t evict the Cherokee from their native lands in Northern Georgia and South-eastern Tennessee. \*\*
that’s something i never understood. why honor the monster that caused the misery and death of the trail of tears by putting him on money?
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reagan-on-the-dime/217282.md?page=2)