Bid to put Reagan on $50 note

Liberals are aghast. Historians of America's Civil War are beside themselves. How could anyone seek to change the image on the United States $50 bill, replacing Ulysses S. Grant - the Union general who accepted the surrender of Robert E. Lee in 1865 - with a one-time Hollywood actor nicknamed the Gipper?

Yet that is what Patrick McHenry, a Congressman from North Carolina is seeking to do.

Next year marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Ronald Reagan, and McHenry has introduced the "President Ronald Reagan $50 Bill Act", stipulating all such banknotes printed from next year "shall bear the likeness of President Ronald Wilson Reagan".

First, however, the congressman must overcome Americans' reluctance to change the way their money looks.

Grant, who conducted a victorious campaign across the South, was one of Abraham Lincoln's most aggressive and successful commanders. But his eight years as the country's 18th President were, to put it politely, mediocre.

Less than a generation has passed since Reagan was in the White House, but historians regularly rank him among the top dozen US Presidents.

Yes, he remains controversial, as disliked by many Democrats as he is revered by Republicans. But you could argue he's no more controversial than Grant is in some corners of the old Confederacy even today.

For a President, the only quick way of being elevated to the currency is to die in office.

Franklin Roosevelt was gracing the dime, worth 10c, in 1946, just a year after his death. JFK's ascent was even faster; the Kennedy half-dollar was designed within three months of his assassination in 1963.

Reagan, like Grant, had left the White House long before he died.

Grant's supporters had to wait until 1913, 28 years after his death, before he popped up on the $50 bill and, on this timetable, Reagan should not appear on a banknote until at least 2032.

In terms of being officially remembered, he's not doing badly already. An aircraft carrier, several highways and a gigantic federal building in Washington have been named after him - not to mention the capital's airport.

True believers have even lobbied for a spot for Ronnie on Mt Rushmore. That, though, will never happen - if only because the local granite reportedly can't handle the strain of a fifth presidential face being carved into it.

But there's another reason for doubt. When it comes to the appearance of their money, Americans are the most conservative people on earth.

Today's bills have been the same size since 1929. The highest denomination ones, such as the $5000 "Portrait of [President James] Madison", familiar to devotees of Raymond Chandler's The Long Goodbye, have been withdrawn from circulation.

But apart from security improvements, larger numbers and a dash of colour, those that remain - from $1 to $100 - are little changed.

And the same goes for any attempt to meddle with the coinage. Nothing can disturb the eternal order of penny, nickel, dime and quarter.

As for the copper and zinc penny, the cost of making one is almost double its face value of one cent. But save taxpayers US$50 million ($72 million) a year by getting rid of it?

Perish the thought. Like old soldiers, American coins never die. They just fade away.

- INDEPENDENT