Reagan On The $50 Bill? Ohioans Say Not So Fast

April 5, 2010 — -- If Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., has his way, the nation's 40th president, Ronald Reagan may soon be gracing the $50 bill, but some Ohioans -- even Republicans -- are not having any of it.

GOP state Rep. Danny Bubp has requested the state legislator to draft a resolution opposing the legislation by McHenry, which aims to replace President Ulysses S. Grant with Reagan on the $50 bill.

"It is really sad that they're wanting to change this. I don't dispute that Ronald Reagan was one of our greatest presidents, as was Gen. Grant, but if we want to honor Reagan, let's come up with another bill or something like that as opposed to changing the portrait on the $50 bill," Bubp told ABC News. "We just can't go back and rewrite history and demean something that someone did."

Bubp's districts include the counties where Grant, a native Ohioan, was born and raised. Replacing him, Bubp said, would be undermining Grant's work and his accomplishments, and state Democrats agree.

"If you will [it's a] bipartisan effort here" to oppose the bill, Bubp said. "The point is that Ulysses S. Grant was a pivotal individual who made history. ... There's so much the man did."

McHenry introduced the legislation last month. He says it's not about Grant but about honoring Reagan in the same fashion as Democratic presidents.

Franklin D. Roosevelt's profile is on the dime and Kennedy's is on the half-dollar.

"I'm most interested in honoring Reagan and it has very little to do with Grant and so my response is very simple. I believe that Ronald Reagan, as most historians do, was the better president and deserves recognition in every way possible," McHenry told ABC News.

Benjamin Franklin, who didn't belong to either party, graces the $100 bill. Andrew Jackson can be seen on the $20 bill. He belonged to the Democratic party, but at the time, the Republican party wasn't formed.

McHenry's office said public opinion should factor into the decision and as a result, Reagan is frankly more deserving of the currency distinction than Grant. In a statement last month, McHenry cited a 2005 Wall Street Journal poll of bipartisan scholars that ranked President Reagan 6th and President Grant 29th.

"There will always be individuals with parochial concerns," he said. "A narrow constituency shouldn't undermine the broader issues of honoring Ronald Reagan."

John Marszalek, executive director and managing editor of the Ulysses S. Grant Association at Mississippi State University, says not so fast.

"Grant is one of the most popular figures of the 19th century and really into the middle of the 20th century," Marszalek said. "I don't think it would be appropriate to remove President Grant from the American currency. I think the identification is that significant."