As the Christmas holiday neared in 1925, William David Upshaw (D-GA), a staunch supporter of the Stone Mountain Memorial coin, rose in the House to offer a suggestion to his colleagues for "a Christmas present for your children, your neighbors, and your friends." He was referring to what he called "that marvel of concept and patriotic inspiration" - the Stone Mountain half dollar. He encouraged his fellow Representatives to "buy a dozen or a hundred."
He even provided the motivation to purchase them:
"Buy them, naturally, for the high and practical purpose for which they were minted - to help finish "History's Supreme Monument" on the side of Stone Mountain. Buy them as a shining memento of matchless sculpture on the grim and glorious face of the largest granite rock in all the world. Buy them as a reminder to you and your children that heroism is neither provincial, nor sectional, nor even national in its limitations, but is the priceless heritage of God's humanity everywhere."
He further suggested that purchased coins be framed with "proper inscriptions" and hung in homes, offices and schools. He continued his impassioned plea with:
"Buy them and frame them, first of all and last of all, because they will warm your hearts, thrill your imagination and fructify the dream of your national loyalty as you think of all which the Stone Mountain memorial coin typifies..." (I had to look up "fructify" as I was unfamiliar with the word. Per Merriam-Webster, it means "make something productive.")
Upshaw believed the Stone Mountain coins were a true nationwide commemorative coin, not just one honoring Confederate soldiers and the South. He quoted from a speech given by President Warren G. Harding at the dedication of the Lincoln Memorial. Harding recalled Lincoln's pre-Civil War plea for understanding between opposing sides - "We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies." Harding believed that some of the War's underlying differences were because "There were ambiguities in the Constitution that could only be wiped out by a baptism of blood."
Upshaw called for his colleagues to "Buy this coin and treasure it then, as the Nation's official acknowledgment that President Harding was right in recognizing the fact that it was loyalty to a constitutional concept that moved alike the soldiers of the South and the soldiers of the North. And that means that each was a hero, bravely contending for an honest ideal; or, as President Coolidge declared in his Confederate memorial address at Arlington, 'They were all Americans fighting for what they believed was right.'"
Ultimately, Upshaw's extended remarks were more about rallying support for pensions for the remaining Confederate soldiers vs. driving coin sales - Upshaw believed that invoking the names and statements of former President Harding (deceased) and the current US President, Calvin Coolidge, would give weight to his position and reinforce his objectives.
I wonder how many coin sales resulted from US Representatives in the House after they listened to Upshaw?
1925 Stone Mountain Memorial Half Dollar
For more of my posts about commemorative coins and medals, including many others on the Stone Mountain half dollars, see:
Commems Collection.
Posted 06/23/2023 11:08 am
