5. Obverse and reverse sides of the Great Seal
In 1935, the Department of Treasury proposed the use of the obverse and reverse sides of the Great Seal on the back of the $1 bill, originally with the obverse on the left hand side and the reverse on the right.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt suggested that the Seal be put on the dollar bill rather than a coin and took the matter up with the Secretary of the Treasury. He brought it up in a Cabinet meeting* and asked James Farley [Postmaster General and a Roman Catholic] if he thought the Catholics would have any objection to the “All Seeing Eye”, which he as a Mason looked on as a Masonic symbol of Deity. Farley said “no, there would be no objection.”
When the first draft came back from the Treasury, eagle side (obverse) was on the left of the bill as is a heraldic practice. Roosevelt insisted that the order be reversed so that the phrase “of the United States” would be under the obverse side of the Seal.
