Presidential treatment for $1 coins - Commanders in chief to be honored in new series starting in 2007

Presidential treatment for $1 coins - Commanders in chief to be honored in new series starting in 2007
BY ANDREW LECKEY
Copyright © 2006, Chicago Tribune
December 10, 2006

The U.S. dollar has been around since 1785, its rise and fall remaining a critical factor in the world economy.

But it is the silver dollar that conjures up romantic images of America's rough-and-tumble past.

The U.S. landscape, especially the West, is dotted with establishments named the Silver Dollar Saloon. Each has some history connected to it and the town in which it is located.

Some stories are wholesome and others unsavory, but in hindsight it doesn't matter. Because the point was that anybody with a silver dollar was welcome, this wide net captured a Wild West clientele of card sharks, gold miners and desperados.

Recent establishments also have adopted the name to present a fun-loving image, even if it includes features such as karaoke that Jesse James might have frowned upon.

The fact is that the dollar coin has not been wildly popular in this country. Throughout its early days, it wasn't even continuously minted.

In modern times, the Susan B. Anthony dollar coin, minted in 1979, failed because it looked too much like a quarter. Issuance of additional Anthony coins in 1999 and its replacement with the gold-hued Sacagawea dollar coin in 2000 haven't helped.

Anthony was, of course, the famous women's civil-rights leader, while Sacagawea was the Shoshone Indian woman who helped guide explorers Lewis and Clark. The government owes them both big time for this whole coin thing. It should dedicate something more popular to each of them in the future.

People are just too used to paper dollars. Many of their coins are tossed in a bowl somewhere or lost in couch cushions. Vending machines don't take dollar coins. Who needs more?

Well, the U.S. Mint is trying once again, perhaps hoping parking meter prices will escalate or collectors are restless. Beginning in 2007, it will produce four new $1 coins each year to honor the U.S. presidents in their order of service.

These will be similar to the Sacagawea coin, which will continue to constitute a portion of dollar coins minted each year. Scheduled to run at least until 2016, the new coins will first feature George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison.

Grover Cleveland will appear on two coins, not because the portly chief executive couldn't be fitted on to just one, but because he was the only president to serve non-consecutive terms.

This coin game is taking place as the U.S. dollar's value has shown vulnerability in late 2006, and many experts predict it may slide lower. Although Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke says he isn't worried, ultimately the U.S. economy decides the dollar's fate.

Whether it fits in a billfold or jingles in a pocket, the U.S. dollar has a power of its own that transcends anyone who happens to be on it.

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Andrew Leckey is a Tribune Media Services columnist.