Presidential Issues ?

Just found some lovely Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King issues. Then realized that I've found very little US issue on JFK other than the Presidents 22C series and the eternal flame / JKF issued in May of 1964.

Any thoughts as to why Washington and Jefferson and the like keep getting issued and re-issued and little attention is paid to other past presidents?

Without getting too political... could it be because the value of other presidential contributions to this country are, shall we say, less consequential, with the possible exception of Lincoln?

Perhaps poorly worded because I did ask about Presidents...
and Politics aside I guess I could disagree for a lot of reasons, but;
I think what I'm really asking about the criteria used to issue a stamp
around a particular person, event, place or item in the first place.

There is also a 13c JFK definitive.

Washington/Jefferson/Lincoln are historically proven, and withstood the test of time. Frankly, JFK is still relatively young in history. Very popular, yes -- but the actual long-term historical impact of his policies remain to be tested by time. Every president has his benchmark "action". When it is remembered by the general public 100 years later, then you know its impact.

Sometimes, it's not about how much of a long-term historical impact a person has -- sometimes it's simply about how many important people want you on a stamp (or how many important people DON'T want you on a stamp!).

It's interesting that there are far more FDR and JFK worldwide stamps than most people realize. In fact, many individual countries have issued more FDR/JFK stamps than the US!

In a crude and frank nutshell --

The topic/person is proposed to the committee. The committee selects from those proposals, and makes its recommendation based on importance/significance, popularity, appropriateness, what Congress forces them to choose (guess who decided the US semi-postals), and which ride at Disneyland they liked the most.

OK, many will take exception to my last phrase. The fact is, there are more people upset at the committee for their choices than there are people happy with the committee. I'm glad I'm not in their shoes.

Washington and Jefferson would have way more stamps because they had passed away over a century before JFK. They had more birth anniversaries since then as well as other events they were a part of memorialized. JFK didn't die until 1964 and a stamp honoring him would not have been issued until that year at the earliest. Most presidents are honored the year after their death and on the 100th, 150th, 200th anniversaries of their birth.

Kim,
Appreciate the analogy. :) My kind of response.

I too, was also picking up the fact that globally, there were far more issued than we had... which was part of what piqued my curiosity.

Sign of the times?

If you look back at stamps in the 1920s, lots of deceased figures were featured on stamps (Martha Washington, Nathan Hall (who?), and the like). In modern times, it seems fewer and fewer ex-presidents and such are appearing on stamps. In the current set for sale at shop.usps.com for example, I see a Washington/Jackson (which I'm sure is selling like hotcakes). I remember seeing a Reagan stamp a few years back after his death. The marketing folks at the independent agency of the United States government known as USPS probably rightfully assume that the characters from Toy Story IV are going to sell more stamps.

Stamperdude,
Not to contradict your point, but JFK was killed Nov 22, 1963 and the first memorial stamp was issued in May of 1964.

That would be Nathan Hale, who regretted he had but one life to give for his country.

It's only a matter of time before the "other" Jackson gets on a US stamp.

I'd like to say that I was testing to see if anyone was paying attention with the misspelling there, or plead that it was a typo, but truth be told, I did not know who Nathan Hale was until now.

Had never heard of him, until obtaining a #551 about a month ago. Time to do some reading...

As an aside -- can anyone say a little on PSE grading? How can it take a #551 that sells from Mystic Stamp (not exactly a bargain hunter's dream shop) for $0.60 and make it into a $145 item (http://www.jerryconnollystamps.com/...ucts_id=289)

"There's a sucker born every minute."

-- David Hannum