Former Fed chief Bernanke calls for US to dump Jackson, not Hamilton, from currency

Former Federal Reserve chief-turned blogger Ben Bernanke is calling for the U.S. Treasury to abandon plans to drop Andrew Hamilton from his featured spot on the $10 bill and to dump Andrew Jackson from the $20 instead.

Bernanke says he is "appalled" by Treasury Secretary Jack Lew's plans to replace Hamilton with a woman. Although he welcomed a woman on U.S. currency, Bernanke called Hamilton, the first Treasury secretary, "without doubt the best and more foresighted economic policymaker in U.S. history."

Jackson, president from 1829 to 1837, was "a man of many unattractive qualities and a poor president." Jackson opposed attempts to establish a U.S. central bank.

Bernanke stepped down as Fed chair in 2014 and is a distinguished fellow and blogger at the Brookings Institution.