A decade ago, Dick Peterson was head of the US Mint. Employee issues and government regulations have to make that a pretty thankless job. It’s a politically appointed position but that didn’t matter. Peterson had been an impressive Naval nuclear submariner. He also had earned an MBA from Harvard and worked for General Electric. He’s no slacker....
I had the chance to meet with Peterson when he was at the helm. Tom Jurkowsky, head of the Mint’s Corporate Communications office, set up that meeting and was there. Tom didn’t just glide into his job. He is a former Navy rear admiral. He too is buttoned-up and long-ago learned to navigate the swampy seas in Washington. He’s now an accomplished author.
In the news of late has been word of the pending change in our $20 bill. Some have talked about it for a while. It would replace the bills’ portrait of Andrew Jackson with Black underground-railroad icon Harriet Tubman. In the past, that might have been asking a lot. One thing I learned in my meeting with Peterson was that change of any kind in DC lies somewhere between sluggish and stagnant.
The US Mint and the Bureau of Engraving and Printing – the latter makes our paper money – have sort of merged - with the Mint taking the lead. When I met with Peterson, Barack Obama was president. If there was a time when a Tubman $20 bill would/could happen that was it. Nope. Again, wheels in Washington, assuming there are any, turn slowly. Since my meeting, Obama’s presidency expired, another transpired and yet a third has commenced.
Today, the Tubman bill is back in the news. With so many people making noise about getting away from paper currency, her timing may be iffy. But, that’s way down the road. Cash is still king. Plus, if you’re going to be on a bill, the $20 note is the most popular out there.
A Tubman $20 bill would be a bonanza for collectors. The bills in various varieties would be snapped up in the rollout. But, how might it look? This is sensitive. Few photo images of Tubman exist. Those that do make her appear annoyed, angry or both. In fairness, she didn’t have much to smile about. For now, the only portraits on our paper currency based on actual photos is Lincoln on the $5 bill and U.S. Grant on the $50.
Several designs of a Tubman $20 based on existing photos have been floated. Most make her appear grim. Recent incarnations have been modified to be less severe. The end result will probably be fine. So, when might this be?
According to former Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, because of “technical issues” and the way Washington works (or doesn’t), a Tubman note may now not debut until 2028. That’s seven years and at least one and maybe two more presidents away. The details lie with Janet Yellen, the new Treasury Secretary. Might there be a chance of acceleration from our government? It has happened.
In 1967, NASA talked about going to the moon. That year, tragedy struck when three astronauts died in a test accident. In 1968, a successful trial flight took place. March of 1969 had the first flight with a crew. Barely four months later, in July 1969, NASA went for it. We were on the moon.
Just six weeks after the safe return of our astronauts, the USPS released a special “First Man On The Moon” postage stamp. Approval for such an issue normally takes forever. Moreover, because there was no guarantee of success, the stamps weren’t designed and printed years in advance but, rather, in the course of months.
It would be too easy to say the obvious…If we can land a man on the moon, why can’t we produce a new $20 bill featuring Harriet Tubman? We can.
Naval officers Peterson and Jurkowsky would agree it sometimes takes a little time to do things like turn an aircraft carrier. Not 12-plus years, but time. And, the Tubman bill is now officially on the radar. I’ll be sure to let you know when things accelerate and a change in our change is on the immediate horizon.
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