The new face of the $10 bill will be revealed soon. On Wednesday,
Treasury Secretary Jack Lew told reporters he is close to reaching a
decision on who will be the first woman featured prominently on U.S.
currency.
The decision was supposed to have been made by the end of 2015. But after announcing the proposed change and asking for public input in June, Lew said his department has been overwhelmed by a flood of responses. "We've gotten millions of responses. We're getting close," Lew told PBS's Charlie Rose on Tuesday.
Alexander Hamilton has been the face of the $10 bill since 1929. The redesign of the $10 bill will be the first in a series of redesigns intended to help stop counterfeiting. A popular petition to remove Andrew Jackson from the $20 was not a motivating factor, Lew said at the time of the initial announcement. "We have to value security in our currency. So we're going to have to do this in the order that bills need to be modernized to be safe from counterfeiting," Lew said Tuesday.
As part of the program, the $5 and $20 bills will also see changes, Lew added.
The popular Broadway musical Hamilton has brought the Founding Father to the forefront of American popular culture and sparked protests at the decision to remove the immigrant from the British West Indies from the face of the bill. But, Lew said, Hamilton will not be removed from the bill entirely; he will still appear on its obverse side. "Alexander Hamilton is one of my heroes. He's not leaving our money," Lew said.
Lin Manuel-Miranda, the creator of the musical, told his Twitter followers that Lew personally assured him he would be "very happy" with the redesign.
Since no living person can appear on U.S. currency, popular female candidates to replace Hamilton are Mary Washington, Susan B. Anthony and Harriet Tubman.
The decision was supposed to have been made by the end of 2015. But after announcing the proposed change and asking for public input in June, Lew said his department has been overwhelmed by a flood of responses. "We've gotten millions of responses. We're getting close," Lew told PBS's Charlie Rose on Tuesday.
Alexander Hamilton has been the face of the $10 bill since 1929. The redesign of the $10 bill will be the first in a series of redesigns intended to help stop counterfeiting. A popular petition to remove Andrew Jackson from the $20 was not a motivating factor, Lew said at the time of the initial announcement. "We have to value security in our currency. So we're going to have to do this in the order that bills need to be modernized to be safe from counterfeiting," Lew said Tuesday.
As part of the program, the $5 and $20 bills will also see changes, Lew added.
The popular Broadway musical Hamilton has brought the Founding Father to the forefront of American popular culture and sparked protests at the decision to remove the immigrant from the British West Indies from the face of the bill. But, Lew said, Hamilton will not be removed from the bill entirely; he will still appear on its obverse side. "Alexander Hamilton is one of my heroes. He's not leaving our money," Lew said.
Lin Manuel-Miranda, the creator of the musical, told his Twitter followers that Lew personally assured him he would be "very happy" with the redesign.
Since no living person can appear on U.S. currency, popular female candidates to replace Hamilton are Mary Washington, Susan B. Anthony and Harriet Tubman.
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