Sadly - it is in the eyes of the world.

No living president is allowed to have US currency with his image on it. Only past - DEAD - presidents are afforded that privilege. Same is true of Mount Rushmore.

Not quite correct -- and the 'not-quite' is particularly relevant. First off, being president has nothing to do with it (we have non-presidents on plenty of currency and coins, such as Benjamin Franklin and Susan B. Anthony).

31 U.S. Code § 5114 (b): United States currency has the inscription “In God We Trust” in a place the Secretary decides is appropriate. Only the portrait of a deceased individual may appear on United States currency and securities. The name of the individual shall be inscribed below the portrait.

This prohibition (originally 14 Statute 25) was first passed in 1866 following Spencer Clark managing to have his portrait appear on the 5-cent note. But he wasn't the only person to have appeared on currency while alive, but Clark's appearance was seen by Congress as being blatant self-promotion and abusing his position to do so, prompting them to pass the legislation.

The tricky part is that 31 U.S. Code § 5114 applies to currency and securities, but not to coins, which are treated under a different statute, namely 31 U.S. Code § 5112. The prohibition against living individuals appearing on coins are not blanket, and instead each type of coin has it's own rules. In particular, the prohibition does not apply to commemorative coins and there is precedent, including the 1926 commemorative half dollar depicting Calvin Coolidge, who was not only living, but was the sitting president. Making it an even more relevant precedent is the fact that that coin was issued as part of the Sesquicentennial (150 year) celebration.

 

Very exhaustive explanation, thanks!

 

No living president is allowed to have US currency with his image on it. Only past - DEAD - presidents are afforded that privilege. Same is true of Mount Rushmore.

I'm not sure where you are getting your information about the same being true for Mount Rushmore.

To the best of my knowledge, there is NO statutory or regulatory limitation on who could be added to that monument -- they could put someone else up there whether they are living or dead, have been a president or not, or have accomplished anything of note. If they wanted to, they could put Neil Armstrong up there, or they could pick a name from a hat and declare that that person represents the "Every Day American". Originally, Mount Rushmore was a state-level project aimed at promoting tourism to South Dakota. It was the brainchild of a state historian who wanted to use regional historical figures like Lewis and Clark, Sacagawea, and Red Cloud. The sculptor argued that the monument should have a national theme and chose four presidents not so much because of what they did as individuals, but because, in his view, they represented four stages of the growth of the nation -- a theme that the park emphasizes to this day. Washington symbolizes the birth of the nation, Jefferson represents the growth of the nation, most notably via the Louisiana Purchase, Lincoln symbolizes the preservation of the nation, and Roosevelt the development and transformation of the nation into a world power.

Mount Rushmore falls under the National Park System, which is administered by the Department of the Interior. Any major alteration would require congressional authorization and appropriation, which makes it very unlikely that the addition of a living person would get approved. In fact, it's very unlikely that the addition of anyone will ever be approved. First, there is the political ramifications of changing such a treasured and world-known landmark. But perhaps even more importantly, numerous surveys of the monument have concluded that the remaining granite is simply not suitable for adding another full-scale face without risking severe damage to the existing monument. In fact, this is a large part of why the current monument only has the faces, since the original plan was to include significant portions of the torsos, plus engravings of the key historical events in the nation, plus a Hall of Records in the rock behind the carvings.

 

 

View attachment 369674

Unfortunately, I have a physiologically enforced 9 PM bedtime.

As a teen/young adult, that was the time one started to get ready to go out for the evening.

 

Unfortunately, I have a physiologically enforced 9 PM bedtime.

As a teen/young adult, that was the time one started to get ready to go out for the evening.

Yeah, I'm burning the midnight oil starting at 10:30 PM

 

I'm sorry about veering a little off topic here ... but this really ripped a good old hearty laugh out of me. In the following video:

You can find the following quote:

... (3:37) Faced with this unusually vague answer, I had to do the only other thing possible, and that is to manually browse the internet to find the facts, by comparing information from multiple different sources.

I know, eww. Of course, within milliseconds I ended up on the forums. The treasure trove of online credibility. And after spending some time on forums such as Adventure Rider or Thumpertalk, I came to the following conclusion: The higher the number of posts of a forum member, the higher the chances that member has mental and/or social issues.