Congressman Patrick McHenry (R-NC) announced recently that Ulysses S. Grant’s portrait on the current $50 bill should be replaced with Ronald Reagan. I am one of those who happens to think Reagan was a great president, but nonetheless, I would not support this bill. Sean Wilentz, professor of history at Princeton, is the author, most recently, of “The Age of Reagan: A History, 1974-2008,” has a nice Op-Ed in the New York
Times that provides as solid an argument as any for why McHenry’s proposition is absurd. Besides, when inflation sets in and we have to start printing $100,000 bills like we did during the Great Depression, we can remove Wilson and place instead Reagan’s image [though it might be more appropriate to place FDR's likeness on the thing!]
Note: The present denominations of our currency in production are $1, $2, 5$, $10, $20, $50 and $100. The largest denomination of currency ever printed by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) was the $100,000 Series 1934 Gold Certificate featuring the portrait of President Wilson. [[source]
