Tuesday, December 11, 2007
In God We Trust blooper
Our favorite newspaper of record has printed a minor falsehood. From this article:
Of course, as any good numismatist knows, "In God We Trust" was added to our money quite a bit earlier:
Whoops.
Mr. Romney dragged out the old chestnuts about “In God We Trust” on the nation’s currency, and the inclusion of “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance — conveniently omitting that those weren’t the founders’ handiwork, but were adopted in the 1950s at the height of McCarthyism.
Of course, as any good numismatist knows, "In God We Trust" was added to our money quite a bit earlier:
Congress passed the Coinage Act (1864) on April 22, 1864. This legislation changed the composition of the one-cent coin and authorized the minting of the two-cent coin. The Mint Director was directed to develop the designs for these coins for final approval of the Secretary. In God We Trust first appeared on the 1864 two-cent coin.
Whoops.
