Jack Lew, Likely Next Treasury Secretary, Under Fire for Signature
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The White House(WASHINGTON) — In this day of virtual transactions and autopens, how important is good handwriting? Very, if you’re the U.S. Treasury secretary.
Jack Lew, the presumed frontrunner to replace Tim Geithner as President Obama’s Treasury secretary, is taking fire for his messy John Hancock. The scrawled name which New York Magazine called “the world’s worst signature” would appear on all U.S. dollar bills if Lew is nominated and confirmed as secretary.
Lew is currently Obama’s chief of staff. The White House declined to comment on his signature.
Geithner worked to improve the clarity in his signature before it was ready for the dollar, he said in an interview with American Public Media’s Marketplace this spring.
Former Secretary of the Treasury John Snow has said it took him several tries to get the one that appeared on countless bills under the Bush administration.
“Right after I was confirmed for my position by the U.S. Senate, I signed my name five times, and one of those signatures was chosen to be engraved by the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing,” Snow told ABC’ News in 2004. “The employees of BEP are terrific artisans and they did a beautiful job with my signature.”
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