Between 1937 and 1938, members of Congress who represented West Virginia introduced bills for four different commemorative coin programs: Beckley, WV Centennial (1937), Mercer County, WV Centennial (1937), Romney, WV 175th Anniversary (1937) and Statehood 75th Anniversary (1938). None of the coin proposals was authorized/approved. (Stories about each are available via:
Commems Collection.)
The proposal for a West Virginia Statehood commemorative was given a second chance in 1963, with multiple proposals for a commemorative medal (vs. half dollar) for the West Virginia Statehood Centennial.
The effort began in June 1959 (86th Congress, First Session) with companion bills introduced by Robert Carlyle Byrd (D-WV) in the Senate and a pair of bills by Maude Elizabeth Kee (D-WV) and Kenneth William Hechler (D-WV) in the House of Representatives; each of the three bills was referred to its respective Committee on Banking and Currency. The bills called for the striking of medals "in commemoration of the one hundredth anniversary of the admission of West Virginia into the Union as a State."
West Virginia was the 35th State, entering the Union on June 20, 1863 (during the US Civil War) after separating from Virginia as a result of the latter's secession from the United States to join the Confederate States. It is one of two states with a nickname of "Battle-Born State" - Nevada is the other.
The bills sought up to 200,000 silver medals for the benefit of the West Virginia Centennial Commission. The authority for striking the medals was to expire on December 31, 1963 and orders for the medal were required to be for batches of at least 2,000 pieces.
Note: A month after Kee introduced her original West Virginia Statehood medal bill, she introduced a second (July 1959). As with the first, it was immediately referred to the Committee on Banking and Currency. It was a duplicate of the original bill, and no reason was documented for the follow-up bill's introduction. Maybe keeping the medal proposal "top of mind" within the Committee?The Senate version of the bills moved forward, with its Committee reporting the bill out favorably, without amendment and with a recommendation to pass. The Senate subsequently considered and passed the bill without debate. Upon receiving it, the House referred the bill to its Committee on Banking and Currency. As with the Senate Committee, the bill was reported out without amendment and with a recommendation to pass.
The bill was originally "passed over without prejudice" at the request of Phillip Hart Weaver (R-NE) when first brought up for consideration in the House, He was unaware of the Treasury Department's stance on the medal and did not want the House to consider the bill without the full story being known. Moments later, with knowledge of the Treasury's approval of the medal bill, Mr. Weaver withdrew his previous objection. Harold Royce Gross (R-IA) then reserved the right to object until he learned more about the bill's details. Once its purpose and specifics were explained to him, he withdrew his reservation of objection. This allowed the bill to proceed to consideration by the House; with no further objections raised, the bill was read a third time and passed.
The bill was then examined and signed in each chamber, after which it was sent to the President for approval. It was signed into law by President Dwight David Eisenhower on August 24, 1959.
But wait, there's more!
The conclusion to the story can be found in
Part II.
Posted 03/23/2023 2:14 pm
