Nuggets from the Vault

The History of Presidents on Our Coins

In 2009, the United States Mint will join the nation in celebrating the
bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln's birth. Our 16^th^ President was a man
who, in a time of great division, remained wholly dedicated to the
preservation of the Union. In 1909 he became the first American
President to be featured on a circulating coin when Theodore Roosevelt
and the United States Treasury Department decided to celebrate his
100^th^ birthday by redesigning the one-cent coin.

The decision to change the design of the 1909 penny was reported in the
Annual Report of the Director of the Mint without any explanation of the
reasons why the Agency was abandoning more than 115 years of tradition
by placing the image of a President on a circulating coin. Researchers
and numismatists appear to agree that Theodore Roosevelt's earlier
discussions with sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens may also have included
the topic of honoring Lincoln, but the artist's death in 1907 ended the
possibility of a Saint-Gaudens designed coin commemorating the birth of
our 16^th^ president.

For more than a century after the founding of our nation, American
Presidents led this new Republic, with its system of self-government
untested and unmatched in all the world, through a period of rapid
growth and development that included massive industrial advancement, one
of the most devastating civil wars in all of human history and the
conquest of the skies on the sandy dunes of North Carolina. In the
context of a lifetime, this first American century could accurately be
described as a very active childhood.

The success or failure of what George Washington himself dubbed "this
great experiment" depended on our ability to steer clear of the
obstacles and pitfalls which, over time, may have contributed to the
downfall and ultimate collapse of other civilizations once deemed great.

Like our representative government itself, the images chosen to appear
on American coins were another statement of difference between the
system against which American colonists rebelled and the government for
which American citizens would work. England was just one in a long line
of civilizations that routinely paid tribute to their current sovereign
by engraving his or her portrait onto the coins of the realm. That
tradition extended back to the very beginning of coins as medium of
exchange. Emperors and kings have always been so honored.

It is reasonable to suggest that it was a belief in unrestricted
opportunity as an American birthright that helped guide the Congress in
the creation of many of the federal institutions charged with governing
the new nation, including the United States Mint, whose chief purpose
was the coining of American money. With respect to the images that would
be featured on American coins, the Mint Act of 1792 specifically states
"...there shall be the following devices and legends, namely: Upon one
side of each of the said coins there shall be an impression emblematic
of liberty..." The elected representatives knew that they could more
effectively strengthen the democratic principles on which the nation was
formed by stamping coins with designs of Liberty rather than an image of
President George Washington.

In executing the blueprint of our nation's democracy, one of the
masterstrokes of the founding fathers was their understanding of the
universal appeal and importance of ideals to the average citizen. In a
time of obvious inequality and institutionalized slavery Thomas
Jefferson's simple declaration that "all men are created equal" was more
likely meant to convey an understanding by our leaders that this new
government was not a constitutional monarchy; that a man from humble
beginnings could rise to hold the nation's highest office, a story made
real by the emergence of a self-educated lawyer from the American
heartland, Abraham Lincoln.

As decades passed and the American experiment continued to gain
legitimacy through its continued growth and prosperity, honoring the
vision of the nation's founders and great leaders became an important
and, some would say, necessary public discussion. More so, it was
already being done. From great portraits and statues honoring
battlefield accomplishments to important volumes of the nation's early
history, men like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln
and Ulysses S. Grant were being written and molded into the fabric and
folklore of the country.

Interestingly, when President Theodore Roosevelt began to discuss
invigorating American coin design with the world-renowned sculptor
Augustus Saint-Gaudens, it was Roosevelt's desire to bring elements of
classically influenced sculpture that eventually resulted in both
Saint-Gaudens' Liberty, and Adolph A. Weinman's Walking Liberty. Each of
these designs was used for a time on circulating coins, yet both would
be retired before the 20^th^ Century was half over.

Although the collaboration with Saint-Gaudens resulted in some of the
country's most beloved numismatic designs, the gifted sculptor was often
frustrated by what he believed to be excessive and unnecessary
bureaucracy in his dealings with both the Treasury Department and the
United States Mint. This can be seen in letters between the Mint
Director and the artist dated 1894, when Saint-Gaudens was working to
design a medal for the Chicago World's Fair. Saint-Gaudens' first
priority was sculpture, and he struggled with concerns dealing with the
coinability of his designs.

Unlike Saint-Gaudens, the sculptor Victor David Brenner was dedicated to
furthering the ties between sculpture artists and numismatics. Towards
the end of the 19^th^ Century he served as an instructor at New York's
School for Die-Cutting and was listed as member #434 in the American
Numismatic Association. His 1907 plaque of Abraham Lincoln caught the
eye of President Roosevelt, who wished to see it used on American
circulating coinage.

It remains unclear as to precisely how and when the decision was reached
to use Brenner's portrait of Lincoln on the one-cent coin. *The
Numismatist* reported in its January 1909 issue, that "It is probable
that the half dollar piece will be selected as the principal coin to
bear the Lincoln head..." United States Mint Director Frank Leach
reportedly dismissed the story as premature. Following the revelation
that Lincoln would be featured on a new cent, subsequent issues of the
magazine reported on developments surrounding the new coin and in July
1909, reported that more than 22 million new Lincoln cents hade been
coined in Philadelphia. They were officially released on August 2, 1909.

The public response to the new one-cent coin was, predictably, mixed.
While many Americans embraced the new design, there was no doubt a
significant number who opposed the change. Considering that a large
number of Civil War veterans were still living in 1909, those who had
fought for and wore the uniform of the Confederacy may have found it
difficult, if not impossible, to carry the image of Lincoln, the man
responsible for vanquishing their secessionist dreams, in their pockets.

It would be twenty-three more years before another former President
would join Lincoln on the face of America's circulating coins. In
preparation for the 1932 bicentennial of George Washington's birth, the
Treasury Department and the George Washington Bicentennial Commission
suggested a competition to honor our first President on both a coin and
a medal.

Official rules were released to the public early in 1932, and
participants were instructed to model their designs on the bust of
Washington created from a life mask by noted sculptor Jean-Antoine
Houdon.

The work of accomplished sculptor Laura Gardin Fraser, whose husband
James had designed the Indian Head (sometimes called the Buffalo)
nickel, was chosen for the Washington Bicentennial Medal. For the
Washington circulating coin, Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon chose the
work of New York sculptor John Flanagan, whose portrait of Washington in
profile still graces the obverse of the quarter today. Laura Fraser also
created a design for the circulating coin, but it was not chosen by
Treasury officials for that purpose. The design she submitted for the
coin can be found on the United States Mint's commemorative 1999 George
Washington Death Bicentennial Gold Five-Dollar Coin.

The practice of placing American Presidents on circulating coins
continued in 1938, when the United States Treasury Department announced
a public competition to solicit designs to replace those featured on the
obverse and reverse of the 5-cent coin that year. The rules of the
competition specified that the new nickel's obverse must feature an
authentic portrait of Thomas Jefferson and that the coin's reverse would
recognize Monticello, his historic home near Charlottesville, Virginia.

After 390 sets of models were submitted by some of the country's most
accomplished artists and sculptors, the designs of German-American
sculptor Felix Schlag were selected, earning him the advertised \$1,000
prize in April 1938. The portrait he submitted, the familiar left-facing
profile of Thomas Jefferson, was based on a bust by sculptor
Jean-Antoine Houdon and featured Jefferson dressed in a period coat and
wearing a traditional 18th Century peruke wig.

The Jefferson nickel remained unchanged for 66 years, until the release
of the first coins of the Westward Journey Nickel Series^™^ in 2004.

As the 1930s came to a close, Presidential portraits had replaced
traditional Liberty-themed images on three of the Nation's five most
common coins; the penny, the nickel and the quarter. When American
soldiers went overseas in the early 1940s, they still carried with them
half-dollars that featured Walking Liberty, and ten-cent pieces that
bore a bust of Liberty in a winged cap, often referred to as the Mercury
dime. Both of these classic designs are the work of Saint-Gaudens'
protégé, Adolph A. Weinman.

Shortly after the end of WWII, one of these designs would be retired to
honor the man who led the United States longer than any other, Franklin
Delano Roosevelt. Elected to an unprecedented four terms as America's
Commander in Chief, FDR had battled polio since contracting the disease
in 1921, a fight that ultimately claimed victory over the great man in
April, 1945. Two factors that contributed to Roosevelt being honored on
the ten-cent coin were his strong support for the March of Dimes and the
fact that the winged Liberty design had been in use since 1916, a period
of 29 years, thus obviating the need for new legislation to make the
change.

Liberty, as a design, was removed from the obverse of the last
circulating coin in 1948, though for the first time the place of honor
did not pass to a former American President. The release of the 1948
Benjamin Franklin half-dollar did not coincide with a noteworthy
anniversary, but was rather a project driven by the desire of long-time
Director of the United States Mint Nellie Tayloe Ross to see two iconic
American images -- Benjamin Franklin and the Liberty Bell -- so honored.
Again, the long run enjoyed by Weinman's Walking Liberty, 31 years, from
1916 to 1947, meant that a change could be made without requiring
special legislation from the Congress.

Following the release of the Franklin half-dollars, the country enjoyed
a period of relative calm, at least as far as circulating coin design
was concerned. The only change made to circulating coinage in the 1950s
was to the reverse of the Lincoln cent, as an image of the Lincoln
Memorial in Washington, DC replaced the 50-year old "Wheat Ears" design.

Everything changed on November 22, 1963, when President John F. Kennedy
was assassinated on the streets of Dallas, Texas. A decision was quickly
made to honor the nation's fallen leader by replacing the image of
Franklin on the United States half-dollar. The change didn't have to
come from Congress; President Lyndon Johnson issued an Executive Order
directing the United States Mint to make the change.

The process begun in 1909 was complete in 1964, when American Presidents
were featured on every regular issue circulating coin; Abraham Lincoln
on the cent, Thomas Jefferson on the nickel, Franklin Roosevelt on the
dime, George Washington on the quarter-dollar and John F. Kennedy on the
half-dollar.

One final addition to this group would be made in 1971, when United
States Mint Director Eva Adams presented Richard Nixon and Mamie
Eisenhower with the first new one dollar coins issued by the United
States since the Coinage Act of 1965 ordered a five-year moratorium on
the coins. The issuance of the Eisenhower dollar followed the tradition
established by the Roosevelt dime and Kennedy half-dollar, that of
honoring the life and work of recently deceased Presidents on
circulating coins.

In 2005, President George W. Bush signed the Presidential \$1 Coin Act,
ensuring an extension of this great tradition by at least 10 years -- 10
very busy years that will see the striking and release of four new
dollar coins each year, honoring the service of all of the United States
Presidents in the order in which they served.

While our country moved steadily towards honoring presidents on the face
of our coins, our connection to *Liberty*, one of just two images named
by the founders for use on our earliest coins, remains as strong as
ever. The image each of these new Presidential \$1 Coins will share is a
rendition of sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi's *Lady Liberty,* who
has stood as a welcoming beacon of freedom in New York harbor for more
than 125 years. She is the perfect symbol to complement a series of
newly-created Presidential portraits, and her inspiring presence brings
full circle the story of great American coin design.