Can a Living Person Appear on U.S. Currency?

The answer is “No”—except when they do. (Keep reading.)

Like so many things that appear straightforward, this issue of whether a living person can appear on U.S. currency is complicated. The answer seems to hinge on whether you’re talking about the “letter of the law” or the “spirit of the law.” The spirit of the law is clear, and there are in fact multiple laws that lay out the rules for who can and cannot appear on U.S. currency. Some important examples include:

• The Thayer Amendment: This 1866 law prohibited the use of the image of any living person on “the bonds, securities, notes, or postal currency of the United States.” It was an outgrowth of a silly act of vanity committed by Treasury Department official Spencer Clark, who decided to put himself on banknotes intended to honor explorer William Clark, of Lewis and Clark fame. The congressional bill authorizing the creation of the note only specified that it should honor “Clark,” and so Spencer Clark decided to memorialize himself.
• Presidential $1 Coin Act: This 2005 law outlined the circumstances for creating a series of $1 coins honoring American presidents. The law explicitly stated, “No coin issued…may bear the image of a living former or current President, or of any deceased former President during the 2-year period following the date of the death of that President.”

There have been limited exceptions beyond the Spencer Clark scandal, including when, in 1921, Alabama Gov. Thomas Kilby put himself, along with Alabama’s first governor, William Bibb, on a coin commemorating the centennial of Alabama’s statehood. In 1926, to celebrate the country’s 150th birthday, a half-dollar was minted featuring Pres. George Washington and Pres. Calvin Coolidge, making Coolidge the first living president to appear on a coin. In 1995 Eunice Kennedy Shriver appeared on a commemorative silver dollar honoring the Special Olympics, which she founded. These were all examples of commemorative coins, not intended to be broadly used as money.

There is also a more fundamental reason for prohibitions on living people appearing on currency that is rooted in the origin story of the United States and the Founding Fathers’ distaste for royal traditions. As the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco notes on its website:

To avoid the appearance of a monarchy, it was long-standing tradition to only feature portraits of deceased individuals on currency and coin.

In fact it was a tradition started by George Washington, who refused to appear on the first U.S. silver dollar.

So, since 1792 the U.S. government has been making coins—and subsequently printing banknotes—with this basic understanding, which may make you think that the answer to the question is actually and practically “No.” This is where the “letter of the law” discussion becomes relevant.

Go back and read what the Thayer Amendment said: It specifically prohibited living people from appearing on “bonds, securities, notes, or postal currency”; it says nothing about coins. The 2005 Presidential $1 Coin Act seemed to have addressed this loophole, and yet, in late 2025, the administration of Pres. Donald Trump proposed having the president’s image appear on multiple coins, including a gold coin featuring the president at the Resolute Desk and a $1 circulating coin featuring his profile.

In 2021, in advance of the country’s 250th birthday, the Treasury Department was granted special authority to mint and distribute coins “emblematic” of the country’s founding. Four years later Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who has final approval of currency, said of the decision, “There is no profile more emblematic for the front of this coin than that of our serving President, Donald J. Trump.” In 2026, The Washington Post learned of a proposal to create a $250 bill which would feature Trump’s likeness and signature. It’s unclear if that bill will ever be produced because a $250 bill is not a currently approved denomination for U.S. currency. (In case you were wondering, approved denominations are: $1, $2, $5, $10, $20, $50, $100, $500, $1,000, $5,000, $10,000.)

The prohibition against living leaders on currency is not universal. Queen Elizabeth II appeared on the currencies of Great Britain, Canada, Australia, and many other countries during her life. King Charles III was added to British banknotes in 2024. In Saudi Arabia the reigning king, Salman, appears on banknotes.

But the thorny issue of the “spirit of the law” surfaced when, in 2026, the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee, which typically advises on coin designs, refused to weigh in on the Trump coins in a bid to delay—and therefore derail—their issuance. The committee’s acting chair, a New Jersey Democrat named Donald Scarinci, in announcing that the Trump gold coin would not be reviewed, said:

Only those nations ruled by kings or dictators display the image of their sitting ruler on the coins of the realm. God bless America, and may God preserve our nation.

Nonetheless, the Trump coins, were approved by the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts. On September 2, 2026, the U.S. Mint began circulating the Trump coins, featuring a head-and-shoulders image of Trump – not the earlier version at the Resolute Desk. And with that, the answer decidedly changed to “Yes.”