by
Dale Hobson on February 20th, 2012
Many faces have appeared on US postage over the years, but they have all had one thing in common. They were the faces of dead people (or in the case of Elvis–allegedly dead). In 1997 the circle was widened to include the undead– as shown by this stamp honoring Bela Lugosi’s portrayal of Dracula–but the living were still barred.
Now the US stamp design commission has opened the honors up to living Americans. Today’s Question of the Day is:
Which living American should be the first to appear on a US postage stamp?
Exception to the rule department:
See Terri Gilchrist comments below. There has been a US postage stamp featuring living Americans–Navy sailors in a 1945 commemorative 3-cent stamp, including her father, Paul Franz. This is the stamp, inset in the US Navy archive photo from which it was taken:
Tags: qotd
How about any President still alive? Start at the top and eventually work down to me and I’ll be dead by then.
When my Dad, Paul Franz, was alive (he passed away 11 years ago) he was on a stamp along with other Navy men.
A 3 cent US Navy stamp . The stamp was issued in 1945 to commemorate the US Navy’s role in winning WWII.
My Dad was stationed on Adak Isalnd in the Aleutians for 4 months at the time and he had gotten so very sick on the ship and was flown home to recover and then continued to serve and was stationed in Hawaii as a Navy Postal Clerk.
He attended Whitesboro Central High School.
Diane Sawyer or Tina Turner or Oprah, or Jimmy Carter
It should be someone from Minnesota – either Bob Dylan or Garrison Keillor or Todd Moe.
Why Minnesota? Because it sits atop America’s heartland.
Terri,
What a terrific story about your dad. Thanks for sharing that.
Your welcome…I am not sure about all the other men on the stamp but I do believe it was the only stamp created in which the people were still alive. I have the stamp and a copy of the article his dad kept in a frame and had my dad sign it before he died…my dad would’ve been the person I picked.
I was having a little fun with my earlier comment to today’s question. But, more seriously, why not Neil Armstrong? – first human to set foot on another world.
From the stories I’ve heard about being stationed on The Aleutian Islands in WWII, four months service there may have qualified as death, or at least purgatory.