United States

Military Payment Certificates (MPC)

U.S. military scrip issued between 1946 and 1973 to pay authorized personnel on overseas bases, controlling the flow of dollars and the black market. A catalog in formation from the Notofilia collection.

Historical Context

Origins and Purpose

The Military Payment Certificates (MPC) were a special form of scrip of the U.S. Department of Defense, used from 1946 to 1973 to pay military and authorized civilian personnel overseas. They evolved from the Allied Military Currency (AMC) of World War II.

After the war, the large quantity of dollars in circulation among troops in occupied areas (Europe, Japan, and others) created serious problems: local economies were destabilized because the population preferred the dollar to weakened local currencies; a black market flourished with unofficial exchange rates favorable to soldiers; and there was a risk that U.S. currency would fall into enemy or unauthorized hands.

The War Department (later the Department of Defense), in coordination with the Treasury, created the MPC. Only authorized personnel could use them on military bases and installations. They were convertible into local currency for off-base leave, but local currency or unauthorized persons could not convert it back into MPC. In this way the flow of hard currency was controlled.

Mechanism

How They Worked

They were issued under the authority of the Department of Defense (not the Treasury), and therefore lack the Treasury seal. The Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) produced them for the DoD; the first series were also printed by Boston contractors (Tudor Press and Forbes Lithograph).
They served for all on-base purchases (PX, clubs, and so on). They were converted into U.S. dollars only upon leaving the MPC area.
Series were replaced frequently and without warning on so-called C-Days (Conversion Days): bases were closed, troops exchanged old notes for new ones, and the previous series became worthless overnight, striking at black-market hoarding.
The initial denominations were 5¢, 10¢, 25¢, 50¢, $1, $5, and $10. The $20 note was added in 1968 (Series 661, Vietnam). The colorful designs —often compared to Monopoly money— were printed by lithography (offset), at lower cost and with anti-counterfeiting features particular to the program.

Chronology

Timeline and Use

First issue: Series 461 in September 1946, after a successful trial in the Pacific (July 1946) and the Secretary of War’s approval in August.
Geography: over the years they were used in Austria, Germany, Japan, Korea, Libya, Cyprus, and many other theaters, depending on the series.
Vietnam (peak of use): Series 641 (1965–1968) was the first used exclusively in Vietnam; Series 661, 681, and 692 followed.
Last use: withdrawn in 1973 (last C-Day in South Korea). The program was formally cancelled in August 2003. Because they are not Treasury obligations, they are no longer redeemable for legal-tender currency.
Complete program series: thirteen series issued; two more printed but never placed in circulation (691 and 701); one designed but never printed (721).