Commems Collection Classic: What If? Phantom 1938 Sacagawea

In 1937, the Lewis and Clark Memorial Association ("Association") floated the idea of a 1938 commemorative half dollar to honor Sacagawea, the Native American woman who guided Captain Meriwether Lewis and Captain William Clark on their exploratory expedition through the recently-acquired Louisiana Territory and beyond to the Pacific Ocean. The Association had previously sought a half dollar to mark the 125th Anniversary of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. For more on this effort, see: What If? 1930 Lewis And Clark Expedition 125th Anniversary and What If? 1930 Lewis And Clark Expedition 125th - Part 2.

Note: At the time, the Association's primary objective was to secure the completion of the Lewis and Clark Highway between Lewiston, ID and Missoula, MT. It's possible that some/all funds generated by coin sales could have been directed to this effort.

Even though US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the House Committee on Coinage, Weights, and Measures, were each on record as opposing additional US commemorative coins at the time, the Association (headquartered in Lewiston, Idaho), asked Idaho's Congressmen to sponsor a bill calling for a Sacagawea coin. At the time, Idaho was represented by William Edgar Borah (R) and James Pinckney Pope (D) in the Senate and David Worth Clark (D) and Compton Ignatius White (D) in the House of Representatives. It's not known if one or all were expected to sponsor legislation.

With the recognized low probability of getting a commemorative coin proposal reported favorably by the House Committee, however, no bill was introduced in Congress. Had the coin idea been successful, it would have marked the first time a non-mythical (vs. allegorical) American woman was honored on a US commemorative coin (Queen Isabella of Spain was the first woman, overall, honored via the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition Quarter Dollar and Virginia Dare of England was the second, commemorated on the 1937 Roanoke Colony Memorial Half Dollar).

Of course, Sacagawea (or Sacagawea) was recognized decades later with the US small dollar that features her idealized portrait; the design was issued beginning in 2000. It was a circulating coin issued through 2008; it was superseded by the Native American $1 Program in 2009. (You can check out a US Mint Sacagawea-themed product here: Sacagawea Commemorative Coin Cover.

A Sacagawea statue was included at the 1905 Lewis and Clark Exposition.

Sacagawea Statue, Portland City Park (Circa 1912)

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

The statue's interesting story can be found here:

- 1904-05 Lewis And Clark Exposition - Sacagawea Statue Link?


For other of my posts about commemorative coins and medals, including more What If? and What If? Phantom stories, see: Commems Collection.