President Trump’s signature will appear on U.S. dollars later this year, the Treasury Department said on Thursday. The decision to have Mr. Trump’s John Hancock on America’s paper currency represented an unprecedented change, one that the department said was being made in honor of the United States’ 250th anniversary.
Mr. Trump is set to become the first sitting U.S. president to have his signature on the greenback. His name will appear alongside that of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. As a result, the U.S. treasurer, whose name has been on the currency for more than a century, will not appear on the currency.
“There is no more powerful way to recognize the historic achievements of our great country and President Donald J. Trump than U.S. dollar bills bearing his name, and it is only appropriate that this historic currency be issued at the semiquincentennial,” Mr. Bessent said in a statement.
The addition of Mr. Trump’s signature to dollars is the latest example of the president emblazoning national institutions with his personal brand as he looks to permanently imprint his legacy in American society.
Since retaking the White House last year, Mr. Trump has pushed for the minting of a one-dollar coin featuring his face along with the creation of a commemorative, 24-karat gold coin bearing his image. Mr. Trump also had his name added to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington and his administration has pushed for Washington’s Dulles Airport to be renamed after him.
In his first term, Mr. Trump had his signature added to millions of economic stimulus checks that were mailed to Americans during the pandemic.
The history of who gets to sign the money dates to 1861, when President Abraham Lincoln signed a bill allowing the Treasury secretary to delegate the treasurer of the United States to sign Treasury notes and bonds. According to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, 1914 was the first year that the Treasury secretary and the treasurer started signing the currency together.
During the Biden administration, there was a delay in adding Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen’s signature to the money because President Joseph R. Biden Jr. was slow to appoint a new treasurer.
It is not clear whether Mr. Trump’s signature will appear on all currency notes. The Treasury Department did not respond to a request for comment.
Brandon Beach, Mr. Trump’s treasurer, expressed support for the president’s signature replacing his on the greenback.
“The president’s mark on history as the architect of America’s Golden Age economic revival is undeniable,” Mr. Beach said in a statement. “Printing his signature on the American currency is not only appropriate, but also well deserved.”
The signatures on the U.S. bank notes traditionally change when a new Treasury secretary assumes the job. The Treasury secretary has the discretion to make changes to currency designs.
Larry Felix, who served as director of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing from 2006 to 2015, said that the addition of Mr. Trump’s signature was an “unusual” move but noted previous discussions about adding the signature of the Federal Reserve chair to the currency.
Because future Treasury secretaries might remove the president’s signature from the notes, Mr. Felix said that those being printed with Mr. Trump’s name on them could become sought by collectors.
“It may have the potential to become a numismatic rarity,” Mr. Felix said.
Changes to the features of American currency are often fraught with controversy.
During the Obama administration, Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew initiated an effort to make Harriet Tubman, the former slave, abolitionist and “conductor” on the Underground Railroad, the face of the $20 note. That stalled during Mr. Trump’s first term, and Mr. Biden did not revive the change.
The move to add Mr. Trump’s signature could stir controversy of its own.
“The President’s insistence on plastering his name on bills, coins and national monuments while in office flies in the face of our country’s ideals,” said Senator Jeanne Shaheen, a New Hampshire Democrat who wrote legislation that aimed to add Tubman to the $20. “We should celebrate our 250th anniversary by uplifting the heroic figures who have made our nation what it is today — not fueling yet another vanity project for the sitting president.”
Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a Republican economist who served in the administration of former President George W. Bush, questioned whether adding Mr. Trump’s signature to the currency served the national interest.
Noting that Mr. Trump has a full agenda and that fewer people are using cash, Mr. Holtz-Eakin added, “This may be the ultimate act of futility.”
Alan Rappeport is an economic policy reporter for The Times, based in Washington. He covers the Treasury Department and writes about taxes, trade and fiscal matters.
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