Treasurer of the United States

By law, the treasurer is the depositary officer of the United States with regard to deposits of gold, special drawing rights,{{USC2|12|467|Deposits of gold coin, gold certificates, and Special Drawing Right certificates with United States Treasurer}} and financial gifts to the Library of Congress.{{USC2|2|157|Funds of Library of Congress Trust Fund Board; management of}} The treasurer also directly oversees the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) and the United States Mint, which respectively print and mint U.S. currency and coinage. In connection to the influence of federal monetary policy on currency and coinage production, the treasurer liaises on a regular basis with the Federal Reserve.{{cite web |url=https://home.treasury.gov/about/offices/treasurer |title=Treasurer |website=home.treasury.gov |publisher=U.S. Department of the Treasury |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220831233919/https://home.treasury.gov/about/offices/treasurer |archive-date=August 31, 2022 |access-date=September 1, 2022}}

The duty perhaps most widely associated with the treasurer of the United States is affixing a facsimile signature to all Federal Reserve notes. Federal law requires both the treasurer's signature and the treasury secretary's countersignature for Federal Reserve notes to be considered legal tender.{{cite news |last=Rappeport |first=Alan |date=December 8, 2022 |title=Yellen Is First Female Treasury Secretary With Signature on U.S. Dollar |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/08/business/janet-yellen-signature-dollar.html |url-status=live |newspaper=The New York Times |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221209181953/https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/08/business/janet-yellen-signature-dollar.html |archive-date=December 9, 2022 |access-date=December 9, 2022 |quote=By tradition, the treasurer must sign the money along with the Treasury secretary. Both signatures are engraved onto plates at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, where they are printed and submitted to the Federal Reserve, which determines what currency will be added to circulation.}}

Moreover, the treasurer serves as a senior advisor and representative of the Treasury Department on behalf of the secretary in the areas of community development and public engagement.

On July 29, 1775, long before the Department of the Treasury ever existed, the Second Continental Congress established the Treasury Office to manage revolutionary wartime finances. Congress chose George Clymer and Michael Hillegas as joint treasurers of the United Colonies. On August 6, 1776, however, Clymer resigned from his post, thus making Hillegas the sole incumbent. The position received its current name on May 14, 1777, while Hillegas was still in office.

The post of U.S. treasurer predates the United States Constitution.{{Cite web |date=2024-12-23 |title=Treasurers of the United States |url=https://home.treasury.gov/about/history/treasurers-of-the-united-states |access-date=2025-01-13 |website=U.S. Department of the Treasury |language=en}} The treasurer was originally charged with the receipt and custody of all government funds independent of the treasury secretary, not unlike today's elected state treasurers. Beginning in 1939, the Office of the Treasurer and its cash management activities were brought under the direction of a broader Fiscal Service, one that also coordinated governmentwide accounting and debt management. Later in 1974, the cash management function in its entirety was transferred from the treasurer to what is now known as the Bureau of the Fiscal Service as a cost-saving measure.{{Cite web|url=https://www.fiscal.treasury.gov/about.html|title=Our History|author=Bureau of the Fiscal Service|publisher=U.S. Department of the Treasury|access-date=December 1, 2022}} Responsibility for oversight of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) and the United States Mint was later assigned to the treasurer in 1981.{{cite web |url=https://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/050.html |title=Records of the Treasurer of the United States |website=archives.gov |date=August 15, 2016 |publisher=National Archives |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220515182215/https://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/050.html |archive-date=May 15, 2022 |access-date=September 1, 2022}} In 1994, the treasurer was also named National Honorary Director of the U.S. Savings Bonds Campaign and therefore assigned the task of promoting - as opposed to managing - the program.{{Cite web|url=https://home.treasury.gov/subfooter/faqs/duties-and-functions-faqs|title=Duties and Functions FAQs|publisher=U.S. Department of the Treasury|access-date=December 1, 2022}}

More recently, the requirement of the United States Senate confirmation for the appointment was dropped in August 2012.{{cite web |date=August 10, 2012 |title=Presidential Appointment Efficiency and Streamlining Act of 2011 |url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BILLS-112s679enr/pdf/BILLS-112s679enr.pdf |publisher=GovInfo |access-date=August 31, 2023 |archive-date=October 6, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201006153257/https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BILLS-112s679enr/pdf/BILLS-112s679enr.pdf |url-status=live }}

Since the appointment of Georgia Neese Clark Gray in 1949, the non-continuous total length of time the office has been vacant is more than 4,750 days, or thirteen years, while in the 170+ years prior to that, such time totaled less than a year.

Between 1949 to 2025, women held the position of the office of treasurer. Georgia Neese Clark Gray became treasurer on June 21, 1949, making her the first woman to hold the office.{{cite web |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/08/why-all-of-the-us-treasurers-since-1949-have-been-women/376004/ |title=Why Have All the U.S. Treasurers Since 1949 Been Women? |last=Cruz |first=Lenika |date=August 13, 2014 |website=theatlantic.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140814042920/https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/08/why-all-of-the-us-treasurers-since-1949-have-been-women/376004/ |archive-date=August 14, 2014 |url-status=live |access-date=August 14, 2014}} Until Trump's appointment of Brandon Beach to the position in 2025, all subsequent treasurers were women, and several of those women have also been Hispanic, starting with Romana Acosta Bañuelos in 1971.{{cite web |url=https://rollcall.com/2005/02/15/latina-treasurer-trend-creates-a-mystery-in-d-c/ |title=Latina Treasurer Trend Creates a Mystery in D.C. |last=Hocking |first=Bree |date=February 15, 2005 |website=rollcall.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210127020401/https://rollcall.com/2005/02/15/latina-treasurer-trend-creates-a-mystery-in-d-c/ |archive-date=January 27, 2021 |url-status=live |access-date=February 16, 2005}}

The following persons served as treasurers of the United States:{{cite web |url=https://home.treasury.gov/about/history/treasurers-of-the-united-states |title=Treasurers of the United States |publisher=U.S. Department of the Treasury}}

• Register of the Treasury

{{Reflist}}

• {{Official website|https://home.treasury.gov/}}
• {{cite web |url=https://home.treasury.gov/about/history/treasurers-of-the-united-states |title=Treasurers of the United States |work=History of the Treasury |publisher=United States Department of the Treasury |access-date=April 16, 2022}}

{{USTreasurers}}

{{US Treasury agencies}}

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Category:United States Department of the Treasury

Category:1777 establishments in the United States