United States: A Dollar Bill for History | Economie

Two women broke several glass ceilings Thursday at the printing press where most US banknotes come out. Janet Yellen became the first woman to sign a legal tender as Secretary of the Treasury. Marilyn Malerpa, chief of the Mohegan tribe, is the first Native American to do so, in this case with the position of Treasurer of the United States. Together they leave for the date the first banknotes signed by two women.

Yellen and Mallerpa introduced the new $1 and $5 banknotes Thursday at the Treasury Department’s Bureau of Engraving and Printing (the Mint) in Fort Worth, Texas. More than half of the paper money issued by the United States is printed in Fort Worth. The banknotes that come out from there are marked with small letters on the front. The first banknotes bearing Yellen’s and Mallerpa’s signatures will be delivered to the Federal Reserve later this month and enter circulation next year.

“Two women on one ticket for the first time is really transcendent,” Malerba said during the presentation ceremony. Yellen joked in calligraphy, “It is customary for Treasury Secretaries to provide their signature to appear on our country’s currency. You might think it’s a simple process. But the Founding Fathers failed to take into account what appears to be a common trait of Treasury Secretaries: terrible handwriting. My friend Tim Geithner had to change his signature.” To make it legible.In a 2012 interview, he described the change not for “fancy” but simply for “clarity.”President Obama joked during Jack Lew’s appointment as minister that he should try to make “at least one handwriting legible” in His signature. The good news is, President Biden didn’t make a similar request when he appointed me. But I’ll admit it: I had a great time practicing my signature.

It took the Treasury Secretary nearly two years since taking office to sign her signature on the new banknotes. The law required that the treasurer or treasurer also appear and that position had been vacant for several months until the President of the United States, Joe Biden proposed to Marilyn Malerpa last June to deliver the keys to Fort Knox, the giant depository where the United States keeps most of its gold reserves.

Both Yellen and Mallerpa pioneered positions of power and responsibility where no woman had before. Yellen recalled that when she earned her PhD in economics from Yale in 1971, she was the only woman in her class, out of dozens of men. It was First female chair of the Federal Reserve and he First Secretary to the Treasury. Motoi Muthach (Many Hearts) Marilyn “Lynne” Malerpa was the first female Mohegan chief in modern history and also the first Native American descendant to be appointed Treasurer of the United States.

Recalling during her speech that the presence of two women signing for the first time on a US bill was “a reminder of the contributions of women who have worked in the Treasury and in the profession of economics,” Yellen said. New $20 bill features Harriet Tubman, the heroic abolitionist who escaped slavery and helped many others do so. She would be the first black woman to look at an American bill and the first in over a century. The project, which began in 2016 at the end of Barack Obama’s term, has hibernated Donald TrumpLoving Chief slave owner Andrew Jackson, and resumed under Biden, but it will take time for them to reach the pockets of Americans: that will be “in the next few years,” according to Yellen. In fact, it is planned for 2030, given the complexity of the process to prevent counterfeiting. Before that there will be new $10 (2026) and $50 (2028) notes, while $5 notes will have to wait until 2032 and those from $100 to 2034, according to the Mint’s plan.

The Secretary of the Treasury reviewed the women who appeared on coins and dollar bills and who held positions of responsibility in the Treasury. “Today, women make up about 62% of the workforce at the Treasury Department and hold positions throughout our administration, from Public Affairs to National Finance to the Office of the Chief of Staff. We have made progress in providing greater economic opportunities for women at the Treasury Department and in the economics profession. But we do know There is still a lot to be done. I hope this day reminds us of the path we have taken in terms of fairness and inclusiveness. And I hope that this will motivate us to keep moving forward,” he noted.

When asked how she felt when she saw her signing the new bills, she replied, “Excited. Honor. Joy.”

The issuance of the first signed warrants is a special moment for any Treasury Secretary. Yellen’s predecessor, Steve Mnuchin, and his wife, Louise Linton, were ridiculed and vilified for their clothes and attitude during the event, prompting many to complain. Compare them to movie villains.