# Who should we put on the $50 bill? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 4, 2010, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-should-we-put-on-the-50-bill/531267 "2010-03-04T13:04:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2010, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-should-we-put-on-the-50-bill/531267/61 "2010-03-04T22:32:39Z")
A real American, John Wayne šŸ˜ƒ ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2010, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-should-we-put-on-the-50-bill/531267/62 "2010-03-05T01:35:32Z")
> [@](#): > > Iā€™m with Una although the US is definitely not alone in having revered national figures on their currency (I canā€™t think of a country that doesnā€™t, actually). I canā€™t remember what the bills were like, but Irish coins all have the harp on the obverse, and did even before the Euro. ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2010, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-should-we-put-on-the-50-bill/531267/63 "2010-03-05T01:56:03Z")
If we put Reagan on the fifty, then can we rename the airport after Grant? ---
**Author:** ![boytyperanma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2010, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-should-we-put-on-the-50-bill/531267/64 "2010-03-05T02:32:17Z")
Iā€™m open to any famous person in American history being on our currency. I prefer that anyone considered for US currency be long dead. I donā€™t want people that are from our recent history to be considered. If there is to be debate about that persons legacy I want it to be in the realm of historians not bar room conversations. So Bush, Clinton, Martin Luther king, Nixon, Einstein all too recent to me. I think a hundred years for names to get out of current politics is a good cool down. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2010, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-should-we-put-on-the-50-bill/531267/65 "2010-03-05T03:41:47Z")
Seriously, you should nuke the politicians and put Quintessential USA Scenes on them instead. One could be all about music, with rock & roll, jazz, ragtimeā€¦ another might be about transportation, with the Apollo spacecraft, the Model T and the freeways, the DC3, the streamlinersā€¦ another about building and architecture, with the skyscraper, Hoover Dam, the mall and the strip plazaā€¦ ---
**Author:** ![MOIDALIZE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@MOIDALIZE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MOIDALIZE)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2010, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-should-we-put-on-the-50-bill/531267/66 "2010-03-05T04:01:31Z")
At the very least, the US Mint could just declare open season on the quarter and go wild with it. We could have quarters with famous generals, landmarks, athletes, scenes from movies, animals, food, cars, etc. We could have online polls to vote and every 3 months theyā€™d release some new quarter. ---
**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:** [March 5, 2010, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-should-we-put-on-the-50-bill/531267/67 "2010-03-05T04:25:46Z")
> [@StusBlues](#): > > Why is Abraham Lincoln singing ā€œMammyā€? He was trying a little too hard to be the first Black president. ---
**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:** [March 5, 2010, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-should-we-put-on-the-50-bill/531267/68 "2010-03-05T04:31:35Z")
> [@dhkendall](#): > > If Reagan wants a bill, why not make a new one, the $3 bill. šŸ˜‰ Thatā€™s reserved for Barney Frank. šŸ˜‰ ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2010, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-should-we-put-on-the-50-bill/531267/69 "2010-03-05T04:41:10Z")
Rosa Parks Eleanor Roosevelt Crispus Attucks ---
**Author:** ![Desert\_Nomad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desert_nomad/32/177_2.png) [@Desert\_Nomad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desert_Nomad)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2010, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-should-we-put-on-the-50-bill/531267/70 "2010-03-05T04:57:15Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > A lot of those are Muslim countries who you would not expect to put human images on their currency. Yet Saudi Arabia and Iran (arguably the most Islamic countries) do. ---
**Author:** ![bdgr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a87d85/32.png) [@bdgr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bdgr)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2010, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-should-we-put-on-the-50-bill/531267/71 "2010-03-05T11:40:39Z")
I think Hunter Thompson would be great on the 50. Have Steadman design it. ---
**Author:** ![Frank\_apisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/47e85d/32.png) [@Frank\_apisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank_apisa)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2010, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-should-we-put-on-the-50-bill/531267/72 "2010-03-05T13:40:21Z")
I think a bit of compassion from the liberals here is in order. If you were from the other side and the best you could come up with to honor is someone like Ronald Reaganā€¦wouldnā€™t you want people taking pity on you? ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2010, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-should-we-put-on-the-50-bill/531267/73 "2010-03-05T15:04:58Z")
> [@Bewildebeest](#): > > No so. Booker T Washington was on the half dollar. > > From Wikipedia: > > On April 7, 1940, Washington became the first African American to be depicted on a United States postage stamp. The first coin to feature an African American was the Booker T. Washington Memorial Half Dollar that was minted by the United States from 1946 to 1951. He was also depicted on a U.S. Half Dollar from 1951-1954. Thatā€™s why I specified ā€œregular-issueā€ and not commemorative. The Wikipedia article is a bit misleading; the Booker T. Washington half of 1951-54 was also a commemorative. Benjamin Franklin graced the regular-issue half dollars in those years. ---
**Author:** ![Chingon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chingon/32/17645_2.png) [@Chingon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chingon)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2010, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-should-we-put-on-the-50-bill/531267/74 "2010-03-05T19:41:22Z")
John Brown ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2010, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-should-we-put-on-the-50-bill/531267/75 "2010-03-06T15:13:43Z")
> [@i\_am\_a\_scientist](#): > > No, not until nanotechnology advances to the point where the bill can be a [fully interactive experience](http://www.mcnaughtonart.com/artwork/view_zoom/?artpiece_id=353#), as it should be. Christa fucking McAullife? Thereā€™s all sorts of crazy in that image. Whoa nelly! All props to MLK but I like the Frederick Douglass idea better. Tosses some respect to a true badass who is sadly overlooked these days. MLK gets lots of loveā€¦letā€™s spread it around. Plus, the guy would have the greatest hair EVER featured on American currency. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2010, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-should-we-put-on-the-50-bill/531267/76 "2010-03-06T15:58:10Z")
If itā€™s gonna be a white dude, James Madison. Father of our Constitution, author of the Bill of Rights . . . without him and his Virginia Plan, weā€™d have no country, yet heā€™s gotten very little respect in the way of currency. Iā€™d like to see a woman or an African American, though. I really like the idea of Frederick Douglass, Eleanor Roosevelt, MLK Jr. . . . and Iā€™ll add Harriet Tubman to the list. ---
**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:** [March 6, 2010, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-should-we-put-on-the-50-bill/531267/77 "2010-03-06T23:40:12Z")
Thelonious Monk. All the money should have pictures of musicians. ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2010, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-should-we-put-on-the-50-bill/531267/78 "2010-03-07T03:55:30Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > Thelonious Monk. All the money should have pictures of musicians. Oh, yeah Ritchie Valens Janis Joplin Joey Ramone Elvis Would all make outstanding money. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2010, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-should-we-put-on-the-50-bill/531267/79 "2010-03-07T04:18:34Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > Martin Luther King. > > Actually, it might be amusing for the Dems to offer the Pubs a deal to put Ronnie on the 50 if they also agree to put MLK on the 20. I could agree with this compromise. And open season on the quarter sounds good to me ā€“ we could put on them the Triangle Shirtwaist fire, the Ludlow Massacre, the execution of Sacco and Vanzetti, the internment in concentration camps of Japanese-descended American citizens, and so on and so forth. ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2010, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-should-we-put-on-the-50-bill/531267/80 "2010-03-07T05:41:19Z")
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