Reagan $50 bill draws opposition

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WASHINGTON, March 2 (UPI) -- U.S. scholars and politicians say they will resist a new effort to replace Ulysses S. Grant with Ronald Reagan on the $50 bill.

Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., introduced legislation to make the change as part of 2011's yearlong observance of the 100th anniversary of Reagan's birth, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday.

The proposal has been sent to the House Financial Services Committee where Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif., serves. He says he isn't ready to replace Grant for "someone whose policies are still controversial."

"Our currency ought to be something that unites us," he said.

"I'm very upset," said Keya Morgan, a New York Grant scholar who maintains a Web page on the 18th president.

"What he (Reagan) accomplished is not anywhere as important as what Ulysses S. Grant accomplished."

An earlier effort to replace Andrew Jackson with Reagan on the $20 bill was opposed by Tennessee lawmakers, the Times said.

Likewise, a proposal to put Reagan on the dime in place of President Franklin D. Roosevelt drew objections from Democrats.