Hello, Sacajawea . . .

Hello,

GEORGE WASHINGTON has been getting out and about lately, appearing in print and TV ads in a variety of guises (my favorite: aerobics instructor), to plug the new dollar coin that bears an image of Sacajawea, the guide for Lewis and Clark. Ever the gentleman, especially where the fair sex is concerned, the Father of His Country has been giving the young lady a hand. Is this a harmless expansion of the American pantheon, adding a new face to Washington, Lincoln, Uncle Sam, and the Thanksgiving turkey? Or is it the prelude to a sly iconectomy, replacing a dead white male with a dead red female?

About the Author

Richard Brookhiser

Historian Richard Brookhiser is a senior editor of National Review and a senior fellow at the National Review Institute.

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Hello,

GEORGE WASHINGTON has been getting out and about lately, appearing in print and TV ads in a variety of guises (my favorite: aerobics instructor), to plug the new dollar coin that bears an image of Sacajawea, the guide for Lewis and Clark. Ever the gentleman, especially where the fair sex is concerned, the Father of His Country has been giving the young lady a hand. Is this a harmless expansion of the American pantheon, adding a new face to Washington, Lincoln, Uncle Sam, and the Thanksgiving turkey? Or is it the prelude to a sly iconectomy, replacing a dead white male with a dead red female?