# Who Would You Put On The Money? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 20, 2002, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-put-on-the-money/104718 "2002-04-20T21:33:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Kirkland1244](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dc4da7/32.png) [@Kirkland1244](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kirkland1244)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2002, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-put-on-the-money/104718/1 "2002-04-20T21:33:16Z")
Let’s say they decide to redesign the money again (which they will in a few years), and determine that its a good idea to alter which presidents are on US currency. There are six bills ($1, $5, $10, $20, $50, $100) in general circulation. Limiting yourself to 20th Century presidents, three GOP, three Democrats, who would you want to see on which bills? Republican Presidents: McKinley, T. Roosevelt, Taft, Harding, Coolidge, Hoover, Eisenhower, Nixon, Ford, Reagan, GHW Bush. Democratic Presidents: Wilson, F. Roosevelt, Truman, Kennedy, Johnson, Carter, Clinton. My picks: $1 T. Roosevelt $5 Truman $10 Eisenhower $20 Carter $50 Reagan $100 F. Roosevelt ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2002, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-put-on-the-money/104718/2 "2002-04-20T21:46:26Z")
**Moderator’s Note:** Polls and such belong in IMHO, so I’ll move this thread there. ---
**Author:** ![lenin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3bc359/32.png) [@lenin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lenin)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2002, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-put-on-the-money/104718/3 "2002-04-20T23:27:07Z")
$1 Richard Nixon $2 George W. Bush, image of face ‘accidentally’ printed upside-down $5 Clinton w/ Cigar $7 Jimmy Carter $10 Large Smiley Face $20 Image left unintentionally blank $50 Checkers the Dog $100 Ben Stein ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2002, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-put-on-the-money/104718/4 "2002-04-20T23:33:57Z")
Tell GWB he can be on the $3. But seriously, I’d put McKinley, T. Roosevelt, Eisenhower, Wilson, F. Roosevelt and Kennedy on the bills. No particular order, though I’d be partial to Wilson on the $20. ---
**Author:** ![stankow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cdc98d/32.png) [@stankow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stankow)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2002, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-put-on-the-money/104718/5 "2002-04-21T00:00:15Z")
I know it’s a condition of the OP, but why limit it to presidents? One, other countries don’t limit their money to heads of state, and two, _we_ don’t even limit our money to heads of state. I’d put George Marshall and Jonas Salk ahead of all but the Roosevelts and perhaps Eisenhower (also limiting myself to those who have died, which is a pretty standard limitation). ---
**Author:** ![Ripple](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b2d939/32.png) [@Ripple](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ripple)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2002, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-put-on-the-money/104718/6 "2002-04-21T00:37:03Z")
Jimmy Carter on a dollar bill? Wow. Allright, I’ll go with this: $1 - Eisenhower $2 - JFK $5 - F. Roosevelt $10 - Truman $20 - Nixon $50 - Coolidge $100 - Reagan ---
**Author:** ![clayton\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2002, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-put-on-the-money/104718/7 "2002-05-03T04:05:44Z")
Any bill with truman would be a risky idea. He really only did one thing, and it’s highly controvercial. ---
**Author:** ![clayton\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2002, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-put-on-the-money/104718/8 "2002-05-03T04:06:58Z")
And who in the hell would put nixon on a bill and why?!? ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2002, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-put-on-the-money/104718/9 "2002-05-03T04:29:17Z")
Martin Luther King was the greatest American of the 20th century, hands down. Put him on the $20. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2002, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-put-on-the-money/104718/10 "2002-05-03T04:32:38Z")
Anyone have change for a Lewinsky? ---
**Author:** ![dead0man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/edb3f5/32.png) [@dead0man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dead0man)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2002, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-put-on-the-money/104718/11 "2002-05-03T06:57:23Z")
1$ Truman 2$ T.Roosevelt 5$ Eisenhower 10$ F.Roosevelt 20$ Kennedy 50$ MLK 100$ Taft dead0man ---
**Author:** ![partly\_warmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bc8723/32.png) [@partly\_warmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/partly_warmer)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2002, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-put-on-the-money/104718/12 "2002-05-03T07:40:47Z")
$1 Kennedy $2 George Marshall $5 Franklin Roosevelt $10 Werner Von Braun $50 F. Scott Fitzgerald $100 Walt Kelly ---
**Author:** ![Muad\_Dib](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/35a633/32.png) [@Muad\_Dib](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muad_Dib)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2002, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-put-on-the-money/104718/13 "2002-05-03T08:11:30Z")
Bah, Kennedy… How about putting famous industrialists? People like Vanderbilt, Ford, DuPont, Carnagie, and of course John D. Rockefeller. The men who built the country up, who created great things, and accomplished great deeds. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2002, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-put-on-the-money/104718/14 "2002-05-03T09:53:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by partly\_warmer \* > \*\*$1 Kennedy > $2 George Marshall > $5 Franklin Roosevelt > $10 Werner Von Braun > $50 F. Scott Fitzgerald > $100 Walt Kelly \*\* > _underlining added by **Bosda Di’Chi** _ Putting an ex-Nazi, however great his post-War achievements, on a US bill is _impolitic_. “He aimed for the Moon, but sometimes he hit London” ya know. ---
**Author:** ![partly\_warmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bc8723/32.png) [@partly\_warmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/partly_warmer)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2002, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-put-on-the-money/104718/15 "2002-05-03T11:46:30Z")
Putting an ex-Nazi, however great his post-War achievements, on a US bill is impolitic. “He aimed for the Moon, but sometimes he hit London” ya know. * * * Oooooooh! Ouch! I am not even close to speaking reasonably about Nazis. I’m afraid my pacifist upbringing loses traction, suddenly. Unfortunately, we aren’t given black-or-white evidence concerning individuals in Germany at that time. I’m an ex-NASA type, and I’ve read biographies about Von Braun very, very carefully, I do not believe Von Braun was a bad person. I could be wrong. I do know that he helped mankind (that’s all of us) reach the moon. I’ll stick with my recommendation. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2002, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-put-on-the-money/104718/16 "2002-05-03T15:49:44Z")
I can undersand Von Braun may be controversial. Still I’d like to see a scientist/engineer or two. [Here](http://www2.physics.umd.edu/~redish/Money/) is a list of all physicists that appeared on currencies in various countries. I see Einstein has already made it, on an Israeli note. OK, so the US does have Ben Franklin already, but he didn’t get there purely by his science work. ---
**Author:** ![Belrix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed655f/32.png) [@Belrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Belrix)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2002, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-put-on-the-money/104718/17 "2002-05-03T17:14:33Z")
\ My old landlord in Kansas was former Military Intelligence during WWII. One of his jobs was rounding up “souveniers” from soldiers, like fine art looted from European museums. One other job was helping to collect German rocket scientists after the shooting stopped. (Collect the whole set! Seems there was lots of interest from many nations about getting a real rocket scientist to immigrate). Anyway, my landlord said that this skinny “kid” shows up, claiming to be Werner Von Braun and wanting to go to the good-ol’ US of A. There was some scoffing like “yeah, sure you are” but they sent him back to the interviewers. The final decision of the interviewers was that even if he wasn’t Von Braun, we (the USA) still wanted him. Turns out it really was W. VonB. \