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Ten Notable US Mint Directors and What They Are Known For

By Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker for CoinWeek …..
 

Ten Notable US Mint Directors and What They Are Known For

1. David Rittenhouse (April 1792 – June 1795)

The term “polymath” is usually employed to describe the United States Mint’s first director, David Rittenhouse. He was a mathematician, a philosopher, an astronomer, a surveyor, a master clock maker, and a patriot. At all but the last of these things, he was self taught. His patriotism for the revolutionary cause was demonstrated through the offices he held, in both the Pennsylvania General Assembly and on the Board of War, and by his organization of the production of munitions to aid in the defense of Philadelphia.

Rittenhouse helped draft the Pennsylvania State Constitution and served as the first state treasurer from 1777 through 1789. He was chosen to lead the fledgling Mint by President George Washington and asked to take the job by both Thomas Jefferson, then Secretary of State, and Alexander Hamilton, then Secretary of the Treasury.

Rittenhouse got the appointment 12 days after the passage of the Coinage Act of 1792 and helped lay the Philadelphia Mint’s cornerstone on July 31 of that year.

As Mint Director, Rittenhouse hired the necessary personnel for the Mint to strike its first coins. Before the Mint’s money factory was ready to work, he oversaw the production of some 1,500 half dismes (half dimes), which Washington called in his address to Congress as “a small beginning” in the nation’s coinage.

In 1793, using presses at their new facility, the Mint struck cents and half cents. A year later, they added half dollars and dollars and again produced half dimes, this time using a new design executed by engraver Robert Scot.

Rittenhouse resigned from his post on June 30, 1795. He had taken ill and would die a year later. In 1871, the Mint produced a medal honoring its first director. It was designed by Chief Engraver William Barber and featured a left-facing bust of Rittenhouse with a reverse inscription that read: HE BELONGED TO THE WHOLE HUMAN RACE, BORN 1732. DIED 1796. Artist Charles Wilson Peale painted a portrait of Rittenhouse in 1796. This portrait features Rittenhouse at his desk, sitting next to a telescope.

Significant coinage issued during Rittenhouse’s tenure: 1792 half disme and disme; 1793 Chain cent; 1793 Wreath cent, including the 1793 “Strawberry” cent variety; 1793 Liberty Cap cent; and the 1794 Flowing Hair silver dollar.  

Ten Notable US Mint Directors and What They Are Known For

2. Elias Boudinot (October 1795 – July 1805)

Elias Boudinot served as the third Director of the United States Mint, taking over for the short tenured South Carolinian Henry William de Saussure, who served just four months and left in disgrace after it was discovered that the Mint was striking silver coins at an illegal standard. The selection of Boudinot may have saved America’s money making institution.

Boudinot was a well-respected patriot and a man of deep personal conviction and faith. During the Revolutionary War, Boudinot actively recruited men to take up the war effort. In 1777, General George Washington commissioned Boudinot as a colonel and tasked him with overseeing issues related to American prisoners of war. When Congress failed to allocate sufficient funds to feed and clothe its captured, held in British-occupied New York, Boudinot drew from his own financial resources to cover the gap.

From November 1782 to November 1783, Boudinot served as the President of the Continental Congress. One of the most consequential duties he had during his term was to sign the Preliminary Articles of Peace, which laid the groundwork for the Treaty of Paris and the formal end to American Revolutionary War.

During the Constitutional debates, Boudinot stood in vocal opposition to the institution of slavery, which he saw as immoral and dangerous to the future of the young republic. Although he lost that battle, he did preside over the passage of the First Amendment, which guarantied freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, the right to assemble, and the right to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

The day the Amendment was adopted, Boudinot petitioned George Washington to establish a national Thanksgiving holiday.

Immediately before joining the Mint, Boudinot served on a committee charged with looking into production problems at the Mint. During his tenure as Mint Director, he put the Mint on a more stable footing, which ensured its survival.

As a leader, Boudinot was not shy about correcting deficiencies. On June 20, 1796, Boudinot posted notice to the Mint staff that its work was subpar, writing:

“The Director having had frequent complaints that the coin, both gold and silver lately struck in the mint, have been done in a very slovenly, unworkmanlike manner, has examined a number of them and is sorry to find that the complaints have not been without foundation, and great negligence and inattention is charged on the coinage department, with regard to the late deliveries of coin. He therefore expects that in the future greater care will be taken that no coin is passed through the mint without being executed in a more perfect manner, as a comparison of the former and latter coin does great discredit to the officers of the mint concerned with the coinage.”

The Mint’s output improved. As Director, Boudinot had his engravers abandon the practice of adding stars to the design every time a new state was admitted into the Union, thus firming the 13-star tradition that continues to this day.

When deposits slowed down, Boudinot would deposit his own bullion to keep Mint workers employed. The famed 1804 dollar’s rarity is indirectly due to Boudinot. In 1804, he lobbied President Thomas Jefferson to discontinue striking of the denomination as well as gold eagle ($10) coins because most of the mintage was being exported as bullion for profit by speculators. When Jefferson agreed, America’s largest silver and gold coins went on hiatus. Nearly 30 years later, when the Mint was tasked to make a diplomatic gift presentation set of U.S. Proof coins, they struck 1804-dated silver dollars and gold eagles.

Boudinot also showed concerned about the Mint staff and their families. With Yellow Fever raging during his tenure, Boudinot drew up extensive plans to safeguard Mint assets (including livestock) and to pay off employees during routine closures. When a bill was introduced into Congress to abolish the Mint, Boudinot wrote to President Jefferson to defend the Mint and its workers, asking for some “small provision” to be made to them in the event that they might be dismissed from public service. Fortunately, nothing came of the matter and the Mint persevered.

Boudinot also had a hand in both the creation of the Great Seal of the United States and advocated for the hiring of Mint Engraver John Reich.

He may have been the most consequential director the Mint has had in its first 230 years.

Significant coinage issued during Boudinot’s tenure: 1796 quarter; 1796 half dollar, including 15 Stars specimen strike; 1796 “No Stars” $2.50 gold; 1798 “Small Eagle” $5 gold; 1798 “7×6 Stars” $10 gold.

Ten Notable US Mint Directors and What They Are Known For

3. Samuel Moore (July 1824 to July 1835)

Samuel Moore was the son-in-law of fourth Mint Director Robert Patterson and brother-in-law to the Mint’s sixth director Robert Maskell Patterson. The Pattersons like the Eckfeldt’s were a formidable dynasty whose influence over the United States Mint was multi-generational and sweeping.

Moore came to the Mint after serving in the United States House of Representatives for two terms. He was appointed to the position by President James Monroe after being handpicked by his father-in-law. As Director, Moore advocated for the resumption in the production of silver dollars. Seeing an influx of silver coinage from Canton, China, the Treasury sided with Moore, and President Andrew Jackson agreed to lift Jefferson’s ban. Even though he supported resumption, Moore took a wait-and-see approach on striking new dollar coins – though he did have Chief Engraver William Kneass work on new designs.

When the State Department ordered Proof coin presentation sets to be made so that Ambassador Edmund Roberts would have diplomatic gifts worthy of the prestige of the American government, Moore authorized the production of 1804-dated dollars and gold eagles. When these coins entered the numismatic marketplace years later, they became sensational rarities.

To improve the quality of U.S. coin production, Moore sent Franklin Peale to Europe for two years so that he could study the methods employed by Europe’s state-of-the-art mints. This trip culminated with the introduction of steam presses at the Philadelphia Mint in 1835.

Moore also sought Congressional authorization for the construction of the new mint facilities in Charlotte, Dahlonega, and New Orleans, although coin production would not start at these locations until construction was completed and dies were delivered in 1838. Moore also had a hand in hiring Christian Gobrecht, who would be brought on board during the term of Robert Maskell Patterson, Moore’s hand-picked successor.

Moore was no fan of the motto E PLURIBUS UNUM, feeling that it was simply a play on UNITED STATES OF AMERICA and sought to discontinue production of the half cent upon taking office in 1824. The lowly half cent would meet its bitter end in 1857. E PLURIBUS UNUM remains on U.S. coins to this day.

Significant coinage issued during Moore’s tenure: 1804 Class I silver dollar in Proof; 1804 $10 gold eagle in Proof; 1831 half cent; 1832 “12 Stars” $5 gold half eagle. 

Ten Notable US Mint Directors and What They Are Known For

4. Robert Maskell Patterson (July 1835 to July 1851)

Robert Maskell Patterson, like David Rittenhouse before him, was an accomplished intellectual. Educated at the University of Virginia where he studied law and mathematics, Patterson charted a course for a career in academia. He taught at his alma mater UVA and also later at the University of Pennsylvania. Patterson was an active member of the American Philosophical Society, serving as its president from 1819 until his death in 1851.

Patterson’s U.S. Mint connections came from his father, Robert Patterson, the Mint’s fourth director, and Samuel Moore, his brother-in-law, who served as the Mint’s fifth director and was handpicked by the elder Patterson to take that role.

The younger Patterson was appointed to the Mint post by President Jackson on May 26, 1835. While at the Mint, Patterson hired Christian Gobrecht, who assisted William Kneass after the chief engraver suffered a debilitating stroke.

It is widely believed that the Capped Bust type was based on Patterson’s designs, adapted by artists Thomas Sully and Titian Peale and engraved by Gobrecht.

Patterson proposed the adoption of the two-cent piece while Congress was deliberating legislation that would become the Act of January 18, 1837. At the same time, Patterson opposed the introduction of a gold dollar, a coin type proposed by Treasury Secretary Levi Woodbury–although Patterson did order Gobrecht to prepare patterns for the gold dollar denomination just in case Congress decided to authorize its production.

Patterson oversaw the start of coinage operations at the branch mints of Charlotte, Dahlonega, and New Orleans, which were authorized to be built under the tenure of his predecessor, Samuel Moore. In April and May of 1838, he would oversee the production of the first U.S. coins struck outside of Philadelphia.

Patterson was concerned with the aesthetics of American coin design and envisioned a series of U.S. coins based on English Britannia coins. This idea led to the creation of the Seated Liberty type.

With the arrival of the first alluvial gold deposits from California, the Philadelphia Mint struck a small number (1,389) of gold $2.50 coins with a special “CAL.” punch that signified that the coin was made of California gold. Coins with this commemorative inscription are highly prized by today’s collectors.

Patterson did not always get his way when it came to Mint’s senior staff. He opposed the hiring of James B. Longacre as chief engraver, even though he had no experience in coin and medal design. Longacre landed the appointment through his connections to Secretary of State John C. Calhoun.

Instead, Patterson favored Chief Coiner Franklin Peale for the job and may have colluded with Peale to undermine Longacre after his appointment. Longacre’s efforts to produce dies for the new $20 coin denomination were mired in technical difficulties (or “accidents”), which gave Patterson a reason to petition President Zachary Taylor to fire him. He also sought to eliminate the position altogether, calling it useless, except when new designs needed to be made. Treasury Secretary William Meredith stuck with the engraver, and by March 1850, $20 gold pieces were rolling off of the presses.

Patterson resigned in June 1851 due to health issues and died three years later. He was a known stickler for true dating on coins. He continued Director Moore’s policy of omitting E PLURIBUS UNUM on the reverse of coins except when the Great Seal was used as a design motif.

Significant coinage issued during Patterson’s tenure: 1842 “small date” cent; 1846 half dime; 1840-O “No Drapery” dime; 1846 dime; 1840-O “No Drapery” quarter; 1842-O quarter; 1849-C “Open Wreath” gold dollar; 1841 $2.50 gold coin; 1848 “CAL” $2.50 gold coin; 1838-C $5 gold coin; 1838-D $5 gold coin; 1839-D $5 gold coin; 1849-O $10 gold coin; 1849 $20 gold coin (unique).

Ten Notable US Mint Directors and What They Are Known For

5. James Ross Snowden (June 1853 to April 1861)

The year James Ross Snowden was appointed director, the Mint had a hard time keeping silver coins in circulation. The 15:1 ratio, never a precise silver-to-gold peg, had become even more out of whack with the discovery of vast stores of gold along the California coast and in Australia. Congress deliberated on the matter for several years before deciding to reduce the weight of its subsidiary coins. These measures were put in place a few months before Snowden took office, but it was his responsibility to make sure that the silver coins of the new tenor circulated better than the scarcely seen coins they replaced.

Another in a long line of native Pennsylvanians to lead the United States Mint, Snowden was a man of talent and vision.

Realizing that he had to reignite public enthusiasm for silver coinage, he set a policy wherein the Mint would overpay for such deposits. After flooding the market with new silver coins, the Treasury ordered Snowden to stop and follow the letter and the intent of the law. This led to a downturn in subsidiary silver coin production.

Snowden was a practical man, who saw that the silver dollar had no real place in the economy. He urged Congress to abolish the denomination.

In the protracted battle between Chief Engraver James B. Longacre and Chief Coiner Franklin Peale, Snowden sided with his engraver. After Peale left the Mint in December 1854, Snowden took over the U.S. Mint’s Proof coinage program with the intent to grow it. A collector himself, Snowden was instrumental in the establishment of the Mint’s collection of Washington medals.

When the Mint abolished the half cent and large cent, Snowden set up an exchange program where depositors could trade out the old large copper coins for the new small cent. The shift from large to small cents instigated a coin collecting boom in major cities across America. Collectors and dealers sought out past designs and dates and quickly began to realize which coins were rare and which ones were not.

This interest in coin collecting and growing the Mint’s numismatic business led to the start of the Mint’s “underground” coinage operations. Old dies were put into service so that some in the Mint staff could feed rarities and patterns to collectors through a secretive dealer network. Snowden was involved in these activities to various degrees.

In his final months as Mint Director, Snowden oversaw Mint operations as the southern branch mints fell to the rebellion.

On February 8, 1861, Mint director Snowden wrote to Treasury Secretary John Adams Dix recommending that Congress or the president make a proclamation rebuking the legal tender status of 1861 “O” mint coins on the grounds that the mint is no longer operating in a legal manner. On April 30, Snowden wrote to Treasury Secretary Samuel P. Chase, informing him that the Southern branch mints in Charlotte, Dahlonega, and New Orleans had fallen into southern control.

Snowden wrote three noteworthy numismatic books. A Description of Ancient and Modern Coins, In the Cabinet Collection at the Mint of the United States (1860) was the first to catalog the coins in the Mint cabinet; The Medallic Memorials of Washington in the Mint of the United States (1861) detailed the collection of Washington medals that he had assembled for the Mint Cabinet; and Ancient and Modern Coins, Coins and Money Terms in the Bible (1864) demonstrated Snowden’s broad appreciation for numismatic study.

Snowden’s tenure as Mint Director is so appreciated by numismatists today that he was inducted into the ANA Numismatic Hall of Fame in 2002.

Significant coinage issued during Snowden’s tenure: 1857 large cent and half cent; 1856 Flying Eagle cent; 1859 Indian Head cent; 1859-S dime; S-mint quarters from 1858-1860; 1856-D gold dollar; 1854-S gold $2.50; 1856-D gold $2.50; 1854-D gold $3; 1854-S gold $5; 1860-S gold $10; 1854-O gold $20; 1856-O gold $20; 1861 “Paquet Reverse” gold $20.

Ten Notable US Mint Directors and What They Are Known For

6. James Pollock (May 1861 to September 1866, and again from May 1869 to March 1873)

When Mint Director James Pollock first took office, the American Civil War was not yet one month old. A career politician and government reformer, Pollock came to the job as a former governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and before that as a member of the House of Representatives. Pollock was a Whig and professed a strong Christian faith. So much so that he openly advocated for the passage of a Christian amendment to the Constitution that would have established the United States as a Christian country.

Christian nationalism wasn’t reserved to political figures and clergymen of the north. Similar sentiments circulated in the South, and as much as the American Civil War was fought over the issue of slavery and states’ rights (to perpetuate slavery and the white racial hierarchy), it was also a religious war between myriad factions of American Christianity. The battle between the North and the South brought with it apocalyptic suffering and its political figures often spoke of God’s wrath and God’s judgment.

It should come as no surprise then that the religious motto IN GOD WE TRUST debuted on our national coinage during Pollock’s tenure. On November 13, 1861, Reverend M.R. Watkinson–like Pollock, a Pennsylvania native–wrote to Treasury Secretary Samuel P. Chase, imploring him to add a religious message to our money. The idea found quick support from Pollock, who proposed mottos such as “Our Trust Is in God” and “God Our Trust”. Chase settled on the phrase “In God We Trust” in a December 9, 1863 letter to the Director.

This motto would debut in 1864 on a copper two-cent coin, a new denomination that saw a brief burst of circulation before falling by the wayside after the war came to a close. Pollock would see the denomination off in the last year of his second stint as Mint director (he was appointed for a second time in May 1869 by President Ulysses S. Grant).

From a collector standpoint, the silver coinage of the San Francisco Mint struck during his first term is of the most interest. The free state of California, removed for the most part from the atrocities of the war, made full use of the coins struck there. What was not exported to pay for international trade circulated heavily in the western territory. Today, few uncirculated examples of many key issues survive and the 1866-S “No Motto” double eagle, struck before new dies bearing the IN GOD WE TRUST motto arrived for use, is one of the great rarities in all of U.S. numismatics.

Significant coinage issued during Pollock’s tenure: Two-Cent piece (first use of IN GOD WE TRUST); Three-Cent nickel; Shield nickel; 1863 $3 gold; 1864 & 1865 gold $2.50; 1864-S gold $5.00; 1864-S gold $10; 1866-S “No Motto” gold $20; 1870-S $3 gold. 

7. Frank A. Leach (September 1907 to November 1909)

Before taking the helm at the Mint in September 1907, Frank Aleamon Leach was a newspaperman. His first daily was the Vallejo Evening Chronicle, which began publishing in 1867. He added the Evening-Standard and the Oakland-Enquirer to his portfolio before retiring from journalism in 1897. It was at this time that he entered into government service as the Superintendent of the San Francisco Mint.

While at the San Francisco Mint, Leach oversaw the modernization of the Mint’s gold refining methods, seeing the electrolytic method replace the wasteful sulphuric acid process. He also investigated a major theft operation taking place at the United States Assay Office in Seattle where cashier George Edward Adams stole nearly $60,000 from depositors, surreptitiously skimming from depositors of Klondike gold. The story caused a national sensation; Adams was convicted and sentenced to two consecutive five-year prison sentences. After being paroled in May 1912, Adams immediately got caught up in a counterfeiting scheme and was sent back to prison.

Leach’s most trying time in San Francisco came in 1906, when the city and the surrounding area was hit by a major earthquake. The tremors started at 5:12 am on April 18. Twenty minutes later, the violent shocks underfoot reduced much of the city to ruins and unleashed a series of massive fires. The Mint building stood strong but was in danger of being engulfed by flames. With his entire Mint staff and reinforcements from the United States Army, Leach saved the Mint. In the months that followed months, Leach was tasked by the president to serve as a custodian of the relief funds. He also helped banks assure depositors that they would have access to their money once the banks were able to dig themselves out of the rubble.

As Director of the Mint, Leach oversaw President Theodore Roosevelt’s “Pet Crime”, where the rotund president sought the services of Augustus Saint-Gaudens to beautify America’s coinage. Despite pushback from his own engraving department, the Mint pushed ahead and five major coin redesigns were undertaken. The Saint-Gaudens $10 eagle and $20 double eaglegold pieces, the incuse $2.50 quarter eagle and $5.00 half eagle gold coins of Bela Lyon Pratt, and the timeless Lincoln cent designed by Victor David Brenner.

Significant coinage issued during Leach’s tenure: Saint-Gaudens $10 eagle and $20 double eagle gold pieces; Indian Head $2.50 quarter eagle and $5.00 half eagle gold coins; Lincoln cent. 

8. Nellie Tayloe Ross (May 1933 – April 1953)

Nellie Tayloe Ross was a pioneering figure in American politics. Not only was Ross the first woman to ever hold the position of United States Mint Director, she was also the first woman to have been elected governor of a state when in 1924 she was elected governor of Wyoming, replacing her husband William Ross, who had died in office.

As governor, Ross pushed for banking reform, lower taxes, prohibitions against child labor, and support for farmers. After losing her re-election bid, Ross became active in national Democratic politics and was appointed to the mint director position by President Franklin Roosevelt, whose election campaign she worked on.

Upon arrival at the Mint, Ross went to work with another powerful female figure, First Assistant Director of the Mint Mary O’Reilly. The two women were from completely different parts of the world; Ross was from Wyoming and O’Reilly was from Massachusetts. The two women were leery of each other at first but soon became trusted allies as the Mint undertook the mammoth responsibility of safeguarding the nation’s gold and silver supplies.

A week into her tenure, the Philadelphia Mint struck 145,000 1933-dated double eagles. This would be the last batch of the still unreleased $20 coin to be produced before the order was given to melt them down and recover the bullion.

Aware that the Mint’s storage capacity was inadequate, she oversaw the construction of a new Mint building in San Francisco, an expansion to the Denver Mint, the construction of new vaults at Philadelphia, the construction of the gold bullion depository at Fort Knox, all the while seeing a massive increase in demand for U.S. coinage that had the Mint operating round-the-clock coining operations.

Despite her effective administration of Mint business, Ross had to endure cruel and dismissive treatment from Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau, Jr., a neighbor and close friend of the president. Morgentahau played a key role in helping the United States finance the war effort and was one of the architects of the Bretton Woods system. Despite his massive influence on the American financial system, he could be dismissive and cruel to Ross, mostly on the basis of her gender.

Despite this, Ross set a standard of excellence that would be emulated by the women and men who would come after her. After Ross, the nomination of a woman mint director would become almost routine. Subsequent female mint directors include Eva Adams (see below), Stella Hackel Sims, Donna Pope, Henrietta Fore, and our current mint director, Ventris Gibson.

Significant coinage issued during Ross’ tenure: 1933 $20 double eagles; Jefferson Nickel; 1943 cent; 1942-1945 war nickels; Roosevelt dime; Franklin half dollar; all classic commemorative half dollars dated 1934-1951. 

9. Eva Adams (October 1961 to August 1969)

Eva Adams came to the position after a 15-year career working as a senior member of the staff of three Nevada senators. She was appointed to the position by President John F. Kennedy and continued to serve during the first eight months of the Nixon Administration.

Adams’ tenure came at a critically important period in United States monetary history. An increase in the cost of silver put the Treasury in an untenable position, leading Congress to enact sweeping legislation that would remove 90% silver coinage from circulation. During the transition from silver to clad, the Mint removed mintmarks, initiated a date freeze, and significantly scaled back its numismatic program, eliminating both the Mint Set and the Proof Set and replacing them with a quasi-Proof Special Mint Set product that proved unpopular with collectors.

Adams saw the construction of the fourth Philadelphia Mint. Ground was broken for the new facility on September 17, 1965, and the building opened on August 14, 1969. This ceremony would mark the end of Adams’ tenure.

While Adams’ policies as mint director had a largely negative impact on the coin collecting hobby in the United States, Adams affection for the coin collecting hobby grew and she became a lifelong supporter of the numismatic community after her tenure ended.

Adams was a vocal supporter of Elizabeth Jones and advocated on her behalf. Jones would become Chief Engraver, replacing the retired Frank Gasparro. Adams was also on hand to see the striking of the first American Silver Eagle.

Significant coinage issued during Adams’ tenure: 1964 Kennedy half dollar; 1965 clad coinage; S-Mint Proofs.

10. Philip N. Diehl (June 1994 – March 2000)

Phil Diehl is a Texan, whose background before becoming mint director included a four-year stint working on policies related to telecommunication regulation. This expertise, and his active involvement in Democratic politics, would land him a position on Senator Lloyd Bentsen’s staff working on issues for the U.S. Senate Finance Committee. His appointment to the U.S. Mint Director position came after he served a short stint as Chief of Staff for the U.S. Department of the Treasury, as President Bill Clinton took office in January 1993.

Diehl’s visionary leadership saw the Mint through a period of much-needed change. He tightened up the languishing U.S. commemorative coin program, shepherded in a number of much needed changes in areas of procurement, political appointments, and e-commerce. During his tenure, the Mint thrived, more than tripling its annualized profits. It also reinvigorated the coin collecting hobby in the United States.

While Diehl was director, the Mint rolled out two major programs: the 50 States Quarters program and the Sacagawea dollar.

The idea to release circulating commemorative coins was under consideration for many years, but it was only through efficiencies brought into the Mint’s production capabilities under Diehl that the Mint was able to handle the challenge of releasing five new quarter designs every year.

The return of the dollar coin denomination was driven by Congress. Not since the early 20th century had a U.S. dollar coin circulated in any meaningful way. And even then, the dollar coin has always been a subject of controversy and government largesse.

Initially, Diehl opposed the production of a new dollar coin, but he eventually came around and effectively promoted its launch through television and print advertising and through an innovative distribution campaign with Walmart.

In March 2000, Diehl’s tenure came to an end. Diehl’s successor, former House member Jay Johnson, lost his seat after voting along party lines against Clinton’s impeachment. Johnson would hold the position until August 2001, at which time, President George W. Bush’s nominee Henrietta Fore assumed the role.

Significant coinage issued during Diehl’s tenure: 50 State Quarters Program; 1999 Susan B. Anthony dollar; Sacagawea dollar; 1995-W American Silver Eagle; 2000 Library of Congress Bimetallic gold and platinum $10 coin*

*prepared during Diehl’s tenure, but released a month after his departure

* * *

Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker
Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker
Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker have been contributing authors on CoinWeek since 2012. They also wrote the monthly "Market Whimsy" column and various feature articles for The Numismatist and the book 100 Greatest Modern World Coins (2020) for Whitman Publishing.

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