Mnuchin May Not Put Harriet Tubman on $20 Bill
The treasury secretary said he is "not focused" on replacing slaveholder Andrew Jackson's image with that of Tubman, an abolitionist and a onetime slave.
Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images
Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin said Thursday that Andrew Jackson may stay on the $20 bill, despite plans made more than a year ago by the Obama administration to replace him with the abolitionist Harriet Tubman. According to The Hill:
He said the primary reason the Treasury changes the design of bills is to prevent counterfeiting, something Obama administration officials also emphasized when announcing the changes in April 2016.
“It’s not something that I’m focused on at the moment” Mnuchin said. “The issues of why we change it will be primarily related to what we need to do for security purposes.”
The Washington Post notes that Mnuchin’s hesitance to go through with the plan could be popular with the White House:
President Trump has said he is very fond of Jackson, at times remarking that his election was reminiscent of the populist campaign that brought Jackson into power in 1829. Trump has a portrait of Jackson on the wall in the Oval Office.
Last year, in an interview with NBC, Trump said Tubman was “fantastic” but said putting her on the $20 bill was an example of “pure political correctness.”
“Well, Andrew Jackson had a great history, and I think it’s very rough when you take somebody off the bill,” Trump said last year. “I think Harriet Tubman is fantastic, but I would love to leave Andrew Jackson or see if we can maybe come up with another denomination.”
In April 2016, when then-Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew announced the plan to change the bill, The New York Times said it was “the most sweeping and historically symbolic makeover of American currency in a century, proposing to replace the slaveholding Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill with Harriet Tubman, the former slave and abolitionist.” The changes announced by Obama and Lew were partly in response to the campaigns that sprung up to push for the inclusion of women and people of color on currencies.
According to The Hill, the bills as originally reimagined would also feature images of women on the backs. Leaders of the women’s suffrage movement would be displayed prominently on the reverse of the $10 bill, and significant civil rights events at the Lincoln Memorial would be placed on the back of the $5 bill.
If you're reading this, you probably already know that non-profit, independent journalism is under threat worldwide. Independent news sites are overshadowed by larger heavily funded mainstream media that inundate us with hype and noise that barely scratch the surface. We believe that our readers deserve to know the full story. Truthdig writers bravely dig beneath the headlines to give you thought-provoking, investigative reporting and analysis that tells you what’s really happening and who’s rolling up their sleeves to do something about it.
Like you, we believe a well-informed public that doesn’t have blind faith in the status quo can help change the world. Your contribution of as little as $5 monthly or $35 annually will make you a groundbreaking member and lays the foundation of our work.
Support Truthdig
As the case for reparations gains momentum, Katherine Franke’s “Repair” reminds us of when they were almost made possible.
Ron Chernow's biography, now in paperback, makes it clear: If Grant’s image doesn’t belong on Mount Rushmore, it should at least be acknowledged that if not for him, Lincoln’s might not be there.
A campaign to celebrate the centenary of female suffrage has succeeded in getting a woman on a U.S. bank note, though she’ll have to share the honor with a man.
A long-dreaded transformation from hope to doom is taking place as President Obama ushers the world onto the no-turning-back road of nuclear perdition.
There are currently no responses to this article.
Be the first to respond.