The Louisiana Purchase Commemorative Half Dollar That Wasn't

The Newman Portal continues to process the Eric P. Newman correspondence files, and this week we scanned a file on the Louisiana Purchase commemorative half dollar of 1953. Independently proposed in 1952 by the Missouri Historical Society (MHS) and the Louisiana Purchase 150th Anniversary Association, this half dollar was intended to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the purchase which conveyed from France to the United States nearly a million square miles of land at a cost of fifteen million dollars.

Newman was active in the MHS, had a relationship with the Missouri 12th district congressman Tom B. Curtis, and stepped into the "point" role to advocate on behalf of MHS for the commemorative coin. Correspondence flows for the next two years between Newman, U.S. Congress members, MHS, and the Louisiana Association, as the bill moved through committee, the House, and the Senate.

Everything was in proper order until the bill landed on President Eisenhower's desk in February 1954. The president vetoed the bill, citing lack of public interest in previous commemorative issues and multiple organizations lobbying for similar coins. The Carver/Washington commemorative half dollar (1951-1954) thus became the final piece in the "classic commemorative" series spanning 1892 to 1954, and the program remained silent until 1982, upon the occasion of Washington's 250th anniversary of birth.

Link to Louisiana Purchase Half Dollar correspondence file:
https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/archivedetail/518180