Commems Collection Questions: Answer #20 - Explaining The Gap Between The Hawaiian And Texas

The question:


While it's not possible to state unequivocally that the weakened US economy of the time did not contribute to the lack of new US commemorative coin issues, its role, if any, was a minor one.

The gap was driven largely by the April 1930 veto issued by US President Herbert Hoover regarding the proposed Gadsden Purchase 75th Anniversary half dollar. The Treasury Department had been raising objections regarding new commemorative coins for years, but Congress had generally ignored its objections and approved multiple new commemorative coin bills. With Hoover's veto, however - essentially a reiteration of the Treasury's objections - commemorative coin proposals were not looked upon with favor in Congress.

It was not a case of no new commemorative coin proposals being introduced in Congress (check out my What If? series for the time frame via: Commems Collection), but rather a case of some sponsors withdrawing their coin requests, others switching to a request for a commemorative medal vs. coin, and others seeing their proposals fail to gain traction in the House or Senate Committees that reviewed coinage proposals.

The "long arm" of the veto is to blame for the coin series gap far more than economic factors.