Harriet Tubman on the $20? Trump’s Treasury Dept. Won’t Commit

[essentialsaltes]

Thanks. Does anyone know if the former SoT approved it?

LINK

"In a letter to the American people, Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew today announced plans for the new $20, $10 and $5 notes, with the portrait of Harriet Tubman to be featured on the front of the new $20."

 

[Hammster]

LINK

"In a letter to the American people, Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew today announced plans for the new $20, $10 and $5 notes, with the portrait of Harriet Tubman to be featured on the front of the new $20."

Reading the article, it said that the Sec had to approve it.

Maybe it just never got that far in the process during the last administration.

 

[essentialsaltes]

Reading the article, it said that the Sec had to approve it.

Maybe it just never got that far in the process during the last administration.

I don't see that in the article, but no doubt there would be some sort of process to approve a design once it was created, or choose one from several designs.

 

[Radagast]

Reading the article, it said that the Sec had to approve it.

Maybe it just never got that far in the process during the last administration.

There was no "process." Outgoing SecTreas Lew in his 2016 letter confirmed that anti-counterfeiting issues were primary and that replacing the $10 bill had priority over the $20. He spoke about a Harriet Tubman design as something that might happen in the next administration (not something he had any control over). It seems to me that floating the Harriet Tubman idea was just an election stunt.

He never approved a Harriet Tubman design because there has been no Harriet Tubman design. Nobody even started work on one, afaik.

SecTres Mnuchin indicated last year that there were no immediate plans for a Harriet Tubman design and that that anti-counterfeiting issues were primary.

If a Harriet Tubman $20 ever happens, it will be several presidential terms away, it seems to me.

 

[Ana the Ist]

I'd rather see Tina Turner as Aunty Entity from Mad Max.

 

[Radagast]

I'd rather see Tina Turner as Aunty Entity from Mad Max.

Yeah, I can see that.

 

[essentialsaltes]

There was no "process." Outgoing SecTreas Lew in his 2016 letter confirmed that anti-counterfeiting issues were primary and that replacing the $10 bill had priority over the $20. He spoke about a Harriet Tubman design as something that might happen in the next administration (not something he had any control over). It seems to me that floating the Harriet Tubman idea was just an election stunt.

He never approved a Harriet Tubman design because there has been no Harriet Tubman design. Nobody even started work on one, afaik.

Honestly, the letter is not vague at all:

"I have been inspired by this conversation and today I am excited to announce that for the first time in more than a century, the front of our currency will feature the portrait of a woman—Harriet Tubman on the $20 note.

Since we began this process, we have heard overwhelming encouragement from Americans to look at notes beyond the $10. Based on this input, I have directed the Bureau of Engraving and Printing to accelerate plans for the redesign of the $20, $10, and $5 notes. We already have begun work on initial concepts for each note, which will continue this year. We anticipate that final concept designs for the new $20, $10, and $5 notes will all be unveiled in 2020 in conjunction with the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote."

 

[Hammster]

I don't see that in the article, but no doubt there would be some sort of process to approve a design once it was created, or choose one from several designs.

“The secretary of the Treasury approves all final currency designs,”

So it looks as if it just never got that far.

 

[Radagast]

the front of our currency will feature the portrait of a woman—Harriet Tubman on the $20 note.

Easy for him to say, but nothing was even begun to implement that.

We already have begun work on initial concepts for each note, which will continue this year. We anticipate that final concept designs for the new $20, $10, and $5 notes will all be unveiled in 2020 in conjunction with the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote."

Yeah, and those "initial concepts" were all about anti-forgery measures, not pictures on the front.

It doesn't take 4 years to draw a picture. The "unveiled in 2020" is a clue that they weren't actually starting work on a Tubman design at all.

And, indeed, without settling on the anti-counterfeiting measures, drawing a design would be premature, anyway.

In the latest Australian redesign, anti-counterfeiting measures actually use up quite a bit of area.

 

[Rubiks]

I don't think people should be on currency because people are going to inevitably controversial.

 

[Ana the Ist]

Yeah, I can see that.

View attachment 230382

Nice lol. We don't need another hero.

 

[Radagast]

Nice lol. We don't need another hero.

Interestingly, the hair is about the same.

 

[Ana the Ist]

Interestingly, the hair is about the same.

Lol as Andrew Jackson?

 

[Quid est Veritas?]

I vaguely remember reading somewhere that there's a regular schedule for currency redesign. The $20 bill's turn is in 2020. I won't swear to that though.

Harriet Tubman is certainly a worthy choice. But at some point, I'd like to see someone from the world of science/technology on a bill or coin. Albert Einstein, maybe. (I don't think one has to be a native born American to be on the money. Alexander Hamilton wasn't. You just have to be dead.) Thomas Edison, Rachel Carson, or Margaret Mead are good possibilities. Carl Sagan would be a great choice. After a trip across the pond a while back, I've kept a £10 note. The Queen of course, is on the front. But it has Charles Darwin (and a hummingbird) on the back. That's uber cool.

I like the idea of currency cycling through historic figures every redesign. There is a constant arms race with counterfeiters, so repeated redesigns will anyway be done, and cash will need to be replaced as it decays, so why not? The Pound does so, and it gives scope to celebrate various figures, too.

The US should do so. They should retire all their current presidents and replace them with other American figures. Why not Teddy Rooseveld or Lafayette, or even Handsome Lake or Red Cloud, or Nikolai Tesla or such too? What about a Kennedy or Reagan bill if we really want to see partisan animosity..

 

[Radagast]

Lol as Andrew Jackson?

Almost exactly the same hair. That's why she'd look so good on the $20.

 

[Radagast]

The US should do so. They should retire all their current presidents and replace them with other American figures.

That won't happen, because any change at all will generate opposition.

 

[Rion]

Someone should point out to Trump that Tubman was a pro-Second Amendment Republican and Jackson was a Democrat.

 

[Phil 1:21]

I think we should adopt the Canadian $5 bill as our own. None of our currency lends itself to such entertainment as this.

 

[Hammster]

I think we should adopt the Canadian $5 bill as our own. None of our currency lends itself to such entertainment as this.

I hear they smell like maple syrup.

 

[Phil 1:21]

I hear they smell like maple syrup.

And doughnuts.