Commems Collection Classic: What If? 1955 Cordell Hull - Circulation Dime

Was 1955 the year of the circulating commemorative dime?

I previously posted about a bill that called for a circulating commemorative dime to honor the life-changing contributions to medicine made by Dr. Jonas Salk - Salk developed the first viable/effective vaccine against poliomyelitis (aka, Infantile paralysis and polio). You can read the post here: 1955 Jonas Salk, MD.

Approximately three months later, in July 1955, within a week of Hull's passing on July 23, 1955, Representative Joseph Landon Evins (D-TN) introduced a bill in the House that proposed a circulating commemorative dime "in commemoration of the late Cordell Hull." (I previously wrote about a not-intended-for-circulation (NIFC) commemorative half dollar bill to honor the life and legacy of Cordell Hull, you can read it here: What If? 1951 Cordell Hull Service Legacy.)

Cordell Hull Portrait - Circa 1939

(Image Credit: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division. Public Domain.)

The objective of the bill was to "commemorate the life of the late Cordell Hull, formerly a Representative and Senator from the State of Tennessee, and a former Secretary of State."

Evins likely selected the ten-cent/dime denomination for the coin to parallel the Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) Dime that was already in circulation - Hull was the long-time Secretary of State within FDR's administration, serving more than 11 years, and also engaged in FDR's "March of Dimes" project. A commemorative dime would have created a visible and tangible link between the two politicians.

The bill left it to the Secretary of the Treasury to determine the coin's design, its mintage and for how long the coins were to be struck. The bill's language appears to indicate that the Hull dime was not to be a replacement for the circulating Roosevelt piece, but more of a short-term parallel-issue coin. Interestingly, the bill specified that the "coins herein authorized shall be first issued in the State of Tennessee." A nice tribute to the Tennessee-born Hull (born in Olympus, TN in 1871) and long-term US Representative and Senator from Tennessee.

The bill was referred to the House Committee on Banking and Currency upon its introduction. Though Hull was an influential and well-respected Secretary of State (pivotal in the formation of the United Nations) and, previously, a long-time member of Congress (1907-1933, 60th to 72nd Congress, except for 67th), the bill did not gain the needed traction within the Committee and was not reported out; it died with the adjournment of the 84th Congress in July 1956.

I think a one-year type for this commemorative dime would have been well-received and popular - Hull was an important and well-known American politician. Not to mention a Nobel Prize winner (1945)!


For more of my topics on commemorative coins and medals, including a list of othe What If? posts, see: Commems Collection.