History
The first two-dollar bill in the United States was released in 1776, under a Continental Congress call for "bills of credit for the defense of America". 49,000 were printed.
In 1928 the United States Department of the Treasury issued a two-dollar bill at the current size, with a portrait of Thomas Jefferson on the front. The 1963A series featured Jefferson on the front and Monticello on the back.
In 1976, the Treasury Department reintroduced the bill as a cost-saving measure. As part of the United States Bicentennial celebration, the note was redesigned. The front featured a new portrait of Jefferson, a version of an early 19th century portrait painted by Gilbert Stuart, and the picture of Monticello on the back was replaced with an engraved rendition of John Trumbull's painting "The Signing of the Declaration of Independence". 590,720,000 notes from the 1976 series were printed. The bills proved extremely unpopular and printing was quickly stopped.
In 1996, Series 1995 was printed. They bear the signatures of Robert Rubin and Mary Ellen Withrow. The newest bills are Series 2003, with the signatures of John W. Snow and Rosario Marin.
The U.S. Navy: Two dollar bills in American consciousness
An amusing and perhaps apocryphal story regarding two dollar bills being paid to military servicemen has circulated intermittently in American public consciousness over the years. Unfortunately, its veracity cannot be verified, but the fact that it is constantly retold reflects how Americans view the two dollar bill.
The basic premise is as follows: a coastal town somewhere has a business district that, while successful financially, is plagued by uncouth Navy servicemen on shore leave. They come in, make a ruckus, get drunk, and generally upset the town's otherwise quiet atmosphere. The locals, who do not appreciate the intrusion, finally get together and lodge a formal complaint with the Navy.
The Navy, in response, decides to teach the arrogant town a lesson in economics and pays a substantial portion of its servicemen's following months' salary in two dollar bills. When the sailors subsequently descend on the town to spend their wages, the local businesses are inundated with two dollar bills; in fact, they realize that they have more two dollar bills than anything else, which certainly grabs their attention.
The message, of course, is that the Navy servicemen on shore leave might very well be boorish and intrusive, but the money they spend represents the livelihood of the store owners responsible for the letter of complaint. Needless to say, they were more patient with the sailors thenceforth.
The fact that this tactic worked, of course, is entirely a result of the two dollar bill's rarity. One dollar bills or five dollar bills would not have been so readily noticed. Two dollar bills drive the point home; there is no way they can be ignored, given that they are almost never seen.
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