Suggestion for General Ignorance (in case elves are about)

LocalGwialow · 927818. Mon Jul 30, 2012 10:11 am

Greetings from the SAR! I am a big fan of Qi and other BBC programming and thought I would contribute to the discussion. :-)

General Ignorance (fingers on buzzers please): For whom is on the one dollar bill issued by the United States?

Answer: Salmon P. Chase.

While general ignorance may suggest George Washington, those bills are actually federal reserve notes. They are not issued by the US government but by the federal reserve (which is a private bank [debatable]). President Washington had been asked to be on the currency at the time (only coins), but he refused so Lady Liberty was used instead. The first bills printed directly by the US GOV were done so by President Lincoln's treasury secretary Chase (yes, the same person that JPMorgan Chase was named after).

More fun facts: Chase may also be the only person to also be alive and be on US currency. Chase (who was a politician and had ambitions for running for president), designed the bill himself and put his portrait on the front so people would recognize him. His efforts were in vein, as he failed to win a presidential bid. He is also the person who coined the phrase "In God We Trust", which by law, is on all US currency. It is also federal law that no one appear on US currency who is alive, while the law states at least two years must pass, two presidents (JFK and Grant) were on currency in less than 2 years.

In addition, Mr. Chase is also on the $10,000 Federal Reserve note:

And joining Benjamin Franklin for being the only other non-president on FED notes.

If any elves would like to use this, be my guest. And if you want more GI or other trivia, throw me a line, I know hundreds!

P.S. Sorry if my english is inadequate, you did invent it but you also abandoned me many years ago, so i'll call it even.

Jenny · 927923. Mon Jul 30, 2012 8:26 pm

Welcome LocalGwialow :-)

We do have a couple of other saffies around here somewhere....

CB27 · 927931. Tue Jul 31, 2012 12:08 am

Don't worry about your English LocalGwialow (is that LocalForeigner?).

Unless I've missed something, I'm guessing you're not a saffie and we abandoned you about 15 years ago?

:)

Jetsetradio · 929486. Thu Aug 02, 2012 11:28 pm

This is fantastic, looks like I will have a new fun fact for work tomorrow. Just as an addition to what you said about "In God We Trust" being law, it was not until 1956 that President Dwight Eisenhower established that as the motto by law. 1956 was the first year that the new motto appeared on paper currency, but it had appeared as an unofficial motto on coins since 1864.

'yorz · 929492. Fri Aug 03, 2012 1:36 am

Welcome, Jetsetradio :-)