I can’t regard the effort to put Reagan on the $50 as really a serious paen – it smacks of partisanship, like all those efforts to put monuments to him in each of the states, and on Mount Rushmore. If this comes to serious debate, it will be a polarizing issue, and raise lots of bad feelings on both sides.
So who should we put on the $50? assuming, of course, we want to change it from Grant (a much maligned man, most historians agree, who wasn’t the hopeless drunk he’s often portrayed as).
John Adams? Aside from the recent $1 coin, I don’t think he’s ever been on any US money. He took lots of flak as president (a lot of it from his veep, Jefferson), but he ended up the star of the musical 1776, a David McCulloch bestseller, and an HBO mini-series. He’s gotta be riding high in popularity now.
Tom Paine – everyone knows his pamphlet Common Sense was a major propaganda boost for the Revolution, but the man didn’t get no respect. Even so, his works are still in print, and easier to find than the writings of most of the leaders of the Revolution. Of course, he was a noted atheist and rabble-rouser. He might cause some pretty bad feelings in parts of the country.
William Henry Harrison – aside from his dollar coin, I don’t think he made the currncy list. He was a Whig, so nobody’s going to be upset by his being nominated. True, he had the shortest presidency, and it was probably his own fault, but he had a long career as a politician and a soldier. If nothing else, he’d be interesting. People would collect the bill, and that would be good for our economy.
Who else? Why not scientists, engineers, military leaders who didn’t get to be president, diplomats, etc. We’ve had Susan B. Anthony and Sacagawea, but surely there are other women we could choose. Or black citizens like Frederick Douglas. Or maybe we could put Grover Cleveland on a bill twice, just because.
