The E-Sylum:  Volume 7, Number 24, June 13, 2004, Article 3

REAGAN NUMISMATIC TRIBUTES SOUGHT

  With the death of former President Ronald Reagan,
  movements by his supporters to honor him with numismatic
  tributes are gaining momentum.  On June 8th an article in
  the New York Times was headlined "Have You Got Two
  Reagans For a Twenty?"

  "Forget, for a moment, Ronald Reagan's place in the history
  books. What about his place in the nation's pocketbooks?

  Should he displace Franklin D. Roosevelt on the dime? How
  easily could Alexander Hamilton, never a president, be
  pushed off the $10 bill? How strongly is the Andrew Jackson
  lobby committed to the $20 bill?  Could the John F. Kennedy
  constituency be coaxed to give up the half dollar?

  Mr. Reagan's death has set off a flurry of debate among
  Republicans about honoring him on the nation's currency or
  coins.

  Representative Jeff Miller of Florida introduced legislation on
  Tuesday to put Mr. Reagan on the 50-cent coin. But he found
  himself bumping up against a rival contingent that is pushing the
  $20 bill.

  The Ronald Reagan Legacy Project has spent three years
  studying the currency question. The clear choice is the $10 bill,
  the organization concluded, because Hamilton was not a
  president.

  Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the No. 2 Republican
  in the Senate, favors the $10 bill. But that idea is just one of
  many, he said, emphasizing that his view is that "some
  appropriate gesture of significance" should be made to
  commemorate Mr. Reagan.

  As for the Treasury Department's position, a spokeswoman,
  Anne Womack Kolton, said in an interview on Tuesday,
  "We think it's premature at this point to discuss any
  changes to currency."

  To read the full article (registration required) see: Full Article
  [The Times had a typo in another article in the same issue,
  which noted that "The nation's first state funeral paid tribute
  to Abraham Lincoln, the nation's 16th president, who was
  assassinated on April 14, 1965."  U.S. bibliophiles know
  that date (in 1865) because the famous  J.N.T. Levick sale
  by Edward Cogan, originally scheduled for April 27-29, 1865,
  was postponed due to the assassination of President Lincoln
  on  April 14th, 1865. Lincoln was shot while attending a
  performance at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C.
  -Editor]

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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