Who is Salmon P. Chase?

Winner: Judge Judy, followed by Erica, Tall Paul, and BugMan

Judge Judy just sailed through for the win. She led from beginning to end, no playoff needed. As usual, Tall Paul followed behind – not sure if he’s ever finished ahead of Judy. BugMan returned and this time he finished on the podium, a much better showing than last time.

Tonight we celebrated Rosebud’s milestone birthday with a delicious chocolate cake from Copenhagen and she enjoyed herself with old and new friends.

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Good Question!: Which prominent historical US person is on the $100 bill?

Choices: a. Grant   b. Hamilton   c. Franklin  d. Jefferson

US dollar banknotes

Answer: Franklin

This was a tough question, not too many folks are familiar with $100 bills. I’m not even sure who’s on a $5 bill. But we’ve had these questions about portraits on paper currency before, so let’s straighten this whole issue out.

What portraits are found on United States paper currency that is in circulation today?

United States currency notes now in production bear the following portraits:
George Washington on the $1 bill,
Thomas Jefferson on the $2 bill,
Abraham Lincoln on the $5 bill,
Alexander Hamilton on the $10 bill,
Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill,
Ulysses S. Grant on the $50 bill,
and Benjamin Franklin on the $100 bill.

Whose portraits were included on currency notes that are no longer produced?

There are also several denominations of currency notes that are no longer produced. These include
the $500 bill with the portrait of William McKinley,
the $1,000 bill with a portrait of Grover Cleveland,
the $5,000 bill with a portrait of James Madison,
the $10,000 bill with a portrait of Salmon P. Chase,
and the $100,000 currency note bearing a portrait of Woodrow Wilson.

You’re probably wondering – who the heck is Salmon P. Chase?

Salmon P. Chase (1808-1873) was a U.S. senator, governor of Ohio and Supreme Court chief justice who served as the U.S. secretary of the Treasury during the Civil War (1861-65). A staunch abolitionist, Chase spent his early career as a lawyer and became known as “the attorney general for fugitive slaves” for his frequent defenses of runaway blacks. After representing Ohio in the U.S. Senate from 1849 to 1855, Chase went on to serve as the state’s governor from 1855 to 1859. He made a failed bid for the Republican presidential nomination in 1860 before serving as Abraham Lincoln’s secretary of the Treasury. Chase was responsible for managing the finances of the Union during the Civil War and was instrumental in establishing the national banking system and issuing paper currency.

Top 10 Bank Robbery Movies

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Poor Richard’s Almanack, a Guide to Meeting Ladies

 

Winner: Judy

Tonight we were missing Darin and Mistress Daphne, but women were ably represented by the top 3 finishers. Judy played a strong, quiet game in the bay window and edged Rhys and Maddy. Ten O’Clock Bill was also seated in the bay window, but proved once again that where you sit is not a factor, even when you sit with the winner. Judy may need to give Bill some remedial trivia instruction to help him be competitive.

MikeP. stepped in to moderate the game and control a raucous crowd of 15. Those new players from Minnesota sure were noisy. Mike gets everyone’s attention with his earsplitting whistle. Might be something Mistress Daphne needs to try. We all missed Darin (and her treats) and hope she makes a speedy recovery.

Good Question!: According to one estimate, Ben Franklin had 24 what?

Choices: a. patents   b. wives   c. horses   d. illegitimate children

Answer: illegitimate children

Good Grief! Is that possible?

The best info I could find was this statement: “Benjamin Franklin was rumored to have fathered more than a dozen illegitimate children.” There is nothing more definitive and most of the biographical info leans towards old Ben having numerous relationships, but fewer illegitimate children.

The Chicago Tribune had an interesting piece on ladies man Ben in 1990:

Ben Franklin`s Dangerous Liaisons
That Kindly Old Kite Flyer Was Also A High-flying Ladies` Man

“Franklin Delano Roosevelt had Lucy Mercer.

Dwight Eisenhower had Kay Summersby.

John F. Kennedy had Judith Exner.

Benjamin Franklin had Anna-Louise d`Hardancourt Brillon de Jouy. And Madame Helvetius. And Margaret Stevenson. And Polly Hewson. And Madame Foucault. And Countess Diane de Polignac. And Countess Wilhelmina Golowkin. And Catherine Ray. And Georgiana Shipley. And Madame Le Veillard. And Madame Le Roy. And Countess Houdetot. . . .

And, of course, Deborah Read, his wife of 38 years.”

Unfortunately, there are no videos of Ben and his ladies, but we do have one of Marilyn Monroe singing Happy Birthday to JFK:

“Yes, even Ben Franklin-who is ensconced in our national consciousness as a kindly, bespectacled dispenser of aphoristic advice-was a womanizer. Make that especially Ben Franklin.

Franklin often philosophized that it was important for a man to be reasonable-since it enabled him to find a reason for doing anything he wanted to do. But Franklin himself was frightened by his sexual appetite, admitting in his autobiography that “the hard-to-be-governed passion of my youth had hurried me frequently into intrigues with low women that fell in my way.“

Franklin`s siring of an illegitimate son in Philadelphia, and his neglect of his wife, Deborah, have been well documented by historians. But from the age of 50 until the end of his life, a period in which he spent more time on the banks of the Seine and the Thames than the Schuylkill, Franklin had a sucession of relationships with younger women. Some of the affairs were sexual and others were platonic.”

blogger’s note: This blog, “TNBE,” celebrated it’s fifth anniversary last month, and I almost missed it. You keep reading, we’ll keep writing.

 

 

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