Liberty Issue

However, in a notable departure from all definitive series since 1870, the stamp for a normal first-class letter—the 3-cent value—did not present the portrait of a president, but instead offered a monocolor image of the Statue of Liberty.

Pictures of other national landmarks, such as Bunker Hill and Mount Vernon, are found on several values, while the rest of the stamps follow tradition, containing portraits of well-known historic Americans.

FDR was the first deceased president since Chester A. Arthur (d. 1886) to have been excluded from the next multi-president definitive series to appear after his death—denied an honor that had been accorded to his eight predecessors in office: Cleveland, Harrison, McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, Taft, Wilson, Harding and Coolidge.

It is also notable that only 28% of the Liberty series stamps offered images of presidents (seven out of 25 denominations): a smaller presidential percentage than had appeared on any previous U. S. definitive issue.

While the Liberty stamps were generally replaced by the Prominent Americans series, issued starting in 1965, several of its denominations remained on sale for a considerable period of time afterwards.

Silkote stamps will show a much sharper and brighter image than the standard 2c issue, and although the results were positive the Bureau determined that they did not justify the added expense.