Yellen, who works for the U.S. Treasury, “practised and practised” her signature on U.S. bills.
Janet Yellen, the U.S. Treasury Secretary, said she “practiced and practiced” writing the signature that will soon be on U.S. dollars so that it wouldn’t look like the scrawls of Tim Geithner and Jack Lew, who were in charge before her.
Yellen told CBS’s late-night comedian Stephen Colbert on Wednesday, “I knew this was something you could really mess up, and I wanted to get it right, so I practiced and practiced.”
Yellen said that people had made fun of both Lew and Geithner’s signatures. Some people thought that Lew’s signature looked like eight connected circles, and Geithner’s did too. In the end, both men had to change their signatures. She said, though, that she thought people could read hers.
“You tell me what you think, but I think you’ll be able to read the letters,” she told Colbert. Colbert promised to give an on-air review once the money is in circulation next year.
Related: Yellen tells the IRS not to increase middle-class audits with additional money.
Yellen, who is the first woman to be Treasury Secretary, said she would go to Fort Worth, Texas, next week to see the first money printed with her signature and that of U.S. Treasurer Marilynn Malerba, who is the first Native woman to hold that position.
“I’m going to see the first bills with both of our names printed on them,” Yellen said.
The Bureau of Engraving and Printing only has two places where it makes U.S. money. One is in Washington, D.C., and the other is in Fort Worth.
President Joe Biden chose Malerba as U.S. Treasurer in June. This made it possible for Yellen’s signature to be added to U.S. currency, which couldn’t be done without a U.S. Treasurer in place. Since Yellen took office in early 2021, dollar bills have been printed with the signature of Steven Mnuchin, who was the Treasury Secretary before Yellen.
