A North Carolina Congressman has introduced legislation to replace Grant's likeness, with that of Ronald Reagan, on the $50 bill. I must confess that I was indifferent to this idea initially, but that changed when I read this op/ed piece by historian Sean Wilentz, posted on the NYT's web site. Wilentz does a terrific job of setting the record straight as concerns the much-maligned reputation of Ulysses S Grant. And, in the process, he exposes this proposal as both a travesty and an injustice.Let them name another ship, freeway, or airport after Reagan, if they must. But, leave him off our currency please. Doesn't anyone see the irony of putting this man's face on a bank note? He ran up record deficits throughout his two terms in the White House. The Right's repeated efforts to deify Ronald Reagan grow ever more tiresome. These characters just can't get over the fact that FDR was the greatest American president of the 20th century, and nothing they do can change that. Roosevelt liberated Western Europe from the Nazis, while simultaneously crushing the Japanese Empire. And Reagan? Well, Reagan did dispatch a fleet to tiny Grenada to chase away some Cuban construction workers, and at the same time, gave Clint Eastwood a neat idea for a movie.
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