Congressman wants Ronald Reagan to replace Ulysses S. Grant on the $50 bill

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He already has an airport after him -- Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport outside of Washington D.C. And recently, lawmakers unveiled a statue of Reagan at the U.S. Capitol.

Now Republican Rep. Patrick T. McHenry of North Carolina wants to sub Reagan on the nation’s $50 bill for President Ulysses S. Grant, a union general during the Civil War who led the North to victory and later became the nation’s 18th POTUS. Grant, a champion for African Americans, died broke, so he probably appreciates the money. But if McHenry has his way, Grant will be retired to the dustbin of history.

“Every generation needs its own heroes,” McHenry said Tuesday. “One decade into the 21st century, it’s time to honor the last great president of the 20th and give President Reagan a place beside Presidents Roosevelt (on the dime) and Kennedy (on the half dollar).”

McHenry did not mention Reaganomics, the theory of trickle-down spending whose viability seems to be in dispute at the moment. The congressman’s case: Polls of presidential scholars consistently show Reagan outranking Grant, including a Wall Street Journal survey in 2005 that ranked Reagan sixth and Grant 29th.

Democrats are not enamored of the idea. Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks), who serves on the House Financial Services Committee, said Reagan is too controversial. “Our currency ought to be something that unites us,” he said.

And not all Republicans are too thrilled either. One of McHenry’s Republican primary opponents, Scott Keadle, said he too admires Reagan but believes McHenry is pandering to voters with the bill instead of focusing his work on the bad economy.

McHenry might get more traction if he suggested putting Reagan on the $20 bill, which features Andrew Jackson, who opposed paper money and made destruction of the National Bank a primary goal. (He’s 10th in that Wall Street Journal poll.)

But hey, as long as we’re redesigning, and given inflation, maybe Abraham Lincoln, often ranked as the best president ever, should get a promotion from the lowly $5 bill and the penny.

-- Johanna Neuman

Photo credits: U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing

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