Who determines whose portrait is used on US dollar bills?

Answer 1

From The United States Department of the Treasury's website:

"As with our nation's coinage, the Secretary of the Treasury usually selects the designs shown on United States currency. Unless specified by an Act of Congress, the Secretary generally has the final approval. This is done with the advice of Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) officials. In addition, the Commission on Fine Arts reviews all of the designs.

The law prohibits portraits of living persons from appearing on Government Securities. Therefore, the portraits on our currency notes are of deceased persons whose places in history the American people know well.

The basic face and back designs of all denominations of our paper currency in circulation today were selected in 1928, although they were modified to improve security against counterfeiting starting in 1996. A committee appointed to study such matters made those choices. The only exception is the reverse design of the one-dollar bill. Unfortunately, however, our records do not suggest why certain Presidents and statesmen were chosen for specific denominations."

Note that these regulations do NOT require that only presidents appear on US bills; the only restriction is that no living person can be shown. In the past many other individuals including inventors, Native American leaders, cabinet members and even First Lady Martha Washington have been depicted.

United States currency notes now in production bear the following portraits:

• George Washington on the $1 bill
• Thomas Jefferson on the $2 bill
• Abraham Lincoln on the $5 bill
• Alexander Hamilton on the $10 bill
• Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill
• Ulysses S. Grant on the $50 bill
• Benjamin Franklin on the $100 bill

There are also several denominations of currency notes that are no longer produced. These include:

• William McKinley on the $500 bill
• Grover Cleveland on the $1,000 bill
• James Madison on the $5,000 bill
• Salmon P. Chase on the $10,000 bill
• Woodrow W. Wilson on the $100,000 note.

Three of the above were never President of the US:

• Benjamin Franklin was never President of the United States and his face is on the $100 bill. However, he was one of the "Founding Fathers", an Ambassador to France and a very significant figure in American history.
• Alexander Hamilton was never President of The United States, but his face is on the $10 bill. He was the first Secretary of the Treasury. He was ineligible to be the President because he was born on the Caribbean island of Nevis.
• Salmon P. Chase was never President of The United States, but he was a U.S. Senator, Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court and a Secretary of the Treasury.