Commems Collection Modern: What If? 1971 Apollo 11 / Lunar Landing Trust Fund

In March 1971, during the First Session of the 92nd US Congress, Olin Earl Teague (D-TX) introduced a bill in the House of Representatives that provided for the striking of a 50-cent coin to commemorate the Apollo 11 Moon Landing (July 1969) and the establishment of the "Apollo Lunar Landing Trust Fund."

The bill called for the striking of up to 50 million half dollars! The bill also included general specifications for the coin's designs: the obverse was to feature an "Official Apollo 11 emblem" and the reverse a design that includes the inscription "WE CAME IN PEACE FOR ALL MANKIND" - I can envision the inscription above a depiction of the surface of the moon.

Integral to the coin, the bill also called for the establishment of an Apollo 11 Lunar Landing Commemorative Commission ("Commission"), the Chair of which was to be the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the Commission was also to include the Director of the John F. Kennedy Space Center and three additional members to be appointed by the US President.

The Commission was charged with: 1) Establishing the design of the Official Apollo 11 emblem (to be used on the coin's obverse), 2) Authorizing the issue of the coins, 3) Selecting the distributor of the coins (the Commission was not locked into using the US Mint for sales/marketing/distribution), 4) Establishing the number of coins to be struck along with the date(s) for their issue and 5) Determining how the funds collected from coin sales were to be used.

The bill was somewhat broad in its specifications for how the coin sale funds were to be used, stating that the Trust Fund was to be used for "expenditures to meet those obligations of the United States hereafter incurred which are attributable to the continued development, construction, maintenance, and operation of the space information and education center at the John F. Kennedy Space Center (now the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex), and other space information and education purposes." The Commission certainly was to have considerable leeway in its allocation of funds.

The bill was referred to the House Committee on Banking and Currency upon its introduction, but was not reported out of Committee, and never received further consideration. As no companion bill had been introduced in the Senate, the coin and Trust Fund proposal did not move forward.

I've posted about other Apollo 11 coin proposals of the time, you can check them out here:

- What If? 1969 Apollo 11 - Part I
- What If? 1969 Apollo 11 - Part Ii
- What If? 1970 Moon Landing And National Air And Space Museum


For other of my posts about commemorative coins and medals, including other What If? stories from the classic and modern eras of US commemorative coins, see: Commems Collection.