United States Bicentennial Coinage - Background

Background

Commemorative coins had been struck for a number of events and anniversaries by the United States Mint since 1892. Organizations would get Congress to authorize a coin and would be allowed to buy up the issue, selling it to the public at a premium. The final issue among these commemoratives, half dollars honoring Booker T. Washington and George Washington Carver were struck over a number of years, ending in 1954. Originally priced at $3.50, they were repeatedly discounted; many could not be sold at a premium and entered circulation. The promoter of these issues, S.J. Phillips, mishandled the distribution and lost $140,000. The negative publicity caused the Department of the Treasury, of which the Mint is a part, to oppose subsequent commemorative coin proposals, and until the 1970s, Congress passed none.

In 1966, Congress established the American Revolutionary Bicentennial Commission (ARBC) to plan and coordinate activities connected with the 1976 bicentennial of American Independence ("the Bicentennial"). In February 1970, the ARBC established a Coins and Medals Advisory Committee. The committee's initial report, in July 1970, called for the production of a commemorative half dollar for the Bicentennial. In December 1970, the committee called for special designs for all denominations of US coinage for the Bicentennial; the ARBC endorsed this position the following month. The Treasury, however, opposed the change, following its longstanding position against commemorative coins. Several proposals for Bicentennial coins were introduced in Congress in 1971 and 1972, but did not pass.

Mint Director Mary Brooks had attended the Advisory Committee meetings. At one meeting, she supported having a 1776–1976 double date on circulating coins to mark the anniversary in 1976, although accommodating two dates on the obverse would involve production difficulties. However, in a newspaper interview she termed the idea of changing the six circulating coins (cent through dollar) "a disaster". She felt if any Bicentennial coin was issued, it should be non-circulating, perhaps a half cent or a gold piece. Brooks believed that such a coin would not disrupt the Mint in the production of coins for circulation. During 1972, however, she retreated from that position, and by the end of the year had persuaded Treasury Secretary George Shultz to support a Bicentennial coin bill.