Leave FDR on the dime

The Greenville (S.C.) News

Some Republican lawmakers want to put the image of Ronald Reagan on the dime. They'd get rid of the dime's current occupant, Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

This is a bad idea. Reagan is uniquely loved by many Americans, but even Nancy Reagan, speaking for her husband, has come out against the proposal.

... Roosevelt has a special connection with the dime. Stricken himself, Roosevelt created the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis in 1938 to help victims of polio. Radio comedian Eddie Cantor urged Americans to help in the effort by sending President Roosevelt their loose change in "a march of dimes to reach all the way to the White House." That campaign was the forerunner of the March of Dimes, dedicated to healthy babies. A grateful nation put FDR on the dime in 1946, a year after his death. And the March of Dimes helped Jonas Salk develop a polio vaccine.

Roosevelt should remain on the dime. There are many other ways to honor Ronald Reagan.