(This is the nth in a series of articles about U.S. presidents. A different president will be profiled each time the United States Mint issues a coin in his honor -- or eventually, perhaps, in her honor -- as part of its series of presidential dollar coins.)
What gets me is the "in her honor" part. Now what I want you to understand is that this is not a pretext for misogyny but rather a pointing out of what exactly would have to happen in order for one of these coins to depict a female President. These articles started when the 2008 Presidential race was on. Since at the time, Hillary Clinton could have been elected President, I imagine this is why such language was included (as well as to offer hope in the inevitability of a future female President).
You see, one of the stipulations of the law which brought this questionable series into being was that the President honored/depicted on the coin would have to be dead at least two years before his coin's issuance. This means the program will likely end with Ronald Reagan in 2016 barring some tragedy which would take out any Presidents who succeeded him. If Jimmy Carter does not pass away before the end of 2014, he will be skipped over (though honestly I can't imagine an amendment to this law not being passed in the event of his dying in 2015 or 2016 even) and the only one thus skipped over. So now do you see where this is going?
Sake of argument, Barack Obama becomes a one-term President and our next President is a woman. She will assume office in 2013 which would mean that she would have to die less than halfway through her first term in order for a coin to be issued "in her honor". Hell, if Hillary Clinton had taken the Presidency in 2009, something horrible would still have to befall her in order to get a Presidential Dollar issued "in her honor". So even in 2007 when this series of articles started, pointing out the possibility of a female President being depicted on one of these coins already implied tragedy.
Seriously COINage Magazine, drop the verbiage...
2 comments:
I don't think they gave this nearly as much thought as you did, is all.
If anything, they just wanted to cash in on the Hillary thing, and whoever wrote it wasn't even considering the fact that she would have to be elected and then kick the bucket as soon as possible just so they could roll out a coin in two years [barring an exception like for JFK... which I would totally be for, especially if the unfortunate late female president in question were as hot as Yulia Tymoshenko (talk about a MILF - Minister I'd Like to turn gay For)].
Besides, I think they covered their asses okay with the "eventually" part. Not great, just okay. ;)
JFK wasn't an exception (nor was Franklin Roosevelt or Eisenhower for that matter). Their designs were merely rapidly approved upon their deaths. The two-year rule was only for the Presidential Dollar program. The only standing legislation in place is the one which forbids living people from being depicted on our coins (though this was violated for the 1926 sesquicentennial half dollar which had President Coolidge on it alongside President Washington).
In my personal opinion, you should have to be dead a minimum of five years before being eligible for depiction on a circulating coin. That could act to help prevent potential embarrassments that we'd then be stuck with. Of course we could also not depict our Presidents at all, returning the goddess Libertas (I would also accept male allegorical depictions of Science), but that's not ever gonna happen.
Post a Comment