July 11th, 1955:  Law Signed Requiring the Phrase 'In God We Trust' be placed on U.S. Money!

Above is a photo of Charles Edward Bennett, (his name's original derivations mean 'Man [Charles] + Wealth/Fortune Guard [Edward] + Blessed' [Bennett]) who was an eventual 22 term Democratic Congressional Representative from the U.S. State of Florida (Go Florida!) from 1949 to 1993.  He introduced bill H.R. 619.  He reportedly believed that it would remind Americans that our nation's fortunes were tied to our Christian spiritual faith in God.  So, he turned out to be the 'MAN' who believed the 'GAURDIAN' of our 'WEALTH and FORTUNE' was the one who alone can BLESS us, i.e. GOD ALMIGHTY.  And he was instrumental in getting a statement to that effect placed on our money! 

  Dwight D. Eisenhower was not just a US President, but a storied war leader.... like Joshua in the Bible, in the Book of Joshua, the 6th book of the Bible.  Eisenhower was a greatly celebrated General within the USA, and well thought of internationally among other war leaders.  He was the military leader of the Allied war coalition in many ways during World War II.  And there were some especially great Generals to choose from in World War II.  The USA alone had George Patton, Douglas MacArthur, and Omar Bradley, and that was just in one branch of our military service.  Several other Allied nations had exceptional war leaders as well.  So, to be distinguished in such a group is quite a military accomplishment indeed.

  After the war Eisenhower ran for President and was elected.  And in the first year of his presidency, he was actually baptized as a Christian in the Presbyterian denomination.  He had originally been raised as a Christian in a branch of the Christian Church that would develop into Jehovah's Witness but fell away from that particular branch of the faith as a young man because he reportedly said it focused too much upon the Biblical end times in his view. 

  He was considered the most religious U.S. President to date during his administration, and had the phrase 'under God', as in '...one nation, under God,' officially added to our national American Pledge of Allegiance during his Presidency.  He even regularly held 'prayer breakfasts' at the White House.  He believed that America owed it all to God (which is quite true!)

  But now to the point of this article:  In 1955 he signed into law H.R. 619, which Congress had readily passed, both House and Senate, and which required that the words 'In God We Trust' be printed on our paper currency as well as our coinage, by force of law. 

  Above is a photo of Salmon Chase, who was instrumental in the original placement of the words 'In God We Trust' on U.S. money.

  Those words had previously been stamped into our coins in most circumstances, but not by force of law, since the days of Salmon Chase, (namesake of the Chase Manhattan Bank) in 1864.  Chase was a looming figure in his time, and wore many prominent hats during his lifetime, among other things being a Treasury Secretary under President Lincoln, an instrumental opponent of slavery, and he spent the final 9 years before he died as a Supreme Court Justice.    His face appeared on both the $1.00 dollar bill, and upon the largest circulated US currency, which was a whoppingly large $10,000.00 bill. 

  But starting in 1955, with this bill called H.R. 619, it became a law that the words would definitely be placed on our U.S. money.  It was thought that it would remind America of the source of whatever financial and political good fortune was being enjoyed in our nation.  Our providence was from Yahweh....from God!  Even our money would remind us about the source of our national strength, remind us from where it is that our blessings are derived....it is from our Maker, Yahweh, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of the Jew and the Christian.     

  So, since the law was called H.R. 619, and was signed by a revered American war leader, it is interesting to note that these are the words of Joshua (Book 6 in the Bible) chapter 1, verse 9, which is a form of 6-1-9 in its own right:

⁹ Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”  End Quote

  That constitutes an admonition, I think it might fairly be said, to simply always trust in God.  And so, we do!  In America we have been taught, even by the overly coveted high earthly power called 'money', our U.S. currency, that there is a higher power, and it is in that power that we should always trust.

  And finally, having talked about how the various paper monies and silver and gold coins of the US treasury take open note of our need to trust in God, thus marking Him as our sacred Father, what if we then go to the book of Joshua just because it is the only book of the Bible named after a great war leader, and then go to its 6th chapter and 19th verse?  That is also a sort of 6 19, right?  What would we find there?  Joshua 6:19 goes as follows:

¹⁹ All the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron are sacred to the Lord and must go into his treasury.”  End Quote

  It's interesting in a way, right?  Below is the involved portion of the July 11, 1955 law, H.R. 619!