Why Did They Stop Making Early Commemoratives?

I think the US Mint concentrated on marketing proof and mint sets instead for collectors.

The reason was the abuses that were coming from the commemorative programs.

Originally there was just the occasional one year and mint commemorative intended to commemorate a significant event and the Treasury supported them. But as the years passed the events became less national in scope, they started expanding to multiple mints and then multiple years. Finally in 1936 the dam gates broke loose. In that year there were TWENTY different commemorative half dollars being produced in 29 different date and mint combinations. Events ranged from state centennials and international expositions down to the receiving of a city charter by a small city in VA. The worst was the Cincinnati half which commemorated NOTHING! It commemorated a fiction and portrayed a person on the coin that had no real connection to the city. And the proceeds went to a paper organization that didn't exist before the coin proposal and which was made up of the same people in charge of marketing the coins. (Who then manipulated the market to make sure they were paid much more than the official issue price.)

And these were just the commemorative issues that managed to get passed. There were at least a couple dozen more proposals for commemorative coins that year that didn't get passed. At this point the Treasury but their foot down and came out against any future commemoratives. (There were still three more commemorative halves issued in 1937 and 1938 that had been passed in 1936 before the Treasury began its objections.)

I'm not sure how they managed to get the 1946 Iowa and Booker T Washington halves managed to get passed, but the BTW once again began the same abuse of the multiple year and mint issues. That would have probably marked the end of the commemoratives except for the Red Scare of the early 1950's. In 1951 in order to keep the Treasury from shutting down their lucrative fund source the coin was redesigned to include Washington Carver and the key clause was included in the bill that part of the funds would be used "To prevent the spread of Communism among the Negros". In the era of the Red Scare and McCarthyism, who was going to vote against a bill that had the purpose of stopping the spread of Communism? This managed to get them three more years of multiple mint coins before they were finally able to shut it off. After that the Treasury dept came out firmly against any commemorative coins proposals that came before the Congress.

But in 1982 we once again had something that politically you couldn't oppose. Who would want to go on record as opposing a George Washington commemorative? (Same reason we can't get him OFF the quarter. No one wants to vote to remove Washington! Or Lincoln, Or Jefferson....) But this time the Government would be in charge of distribution to prevent the abuses of the past. (Instead they thought up new ones.)

Condor makes some good points, I also believe that the Korean War had more of an impact on society than any would like to admit. A little over 4 1/2 years after WWII (the second war to end all wars) we were back in the trenches. There wasn't a whole lot to celebrate. The wounded and dead were coming home again and the old song was being played in a different key.

For almost 5 years prior, we ran ourselves ragged commemorating everything WWII and were, in my opinion, not only tied of commemorations but anything resembling one. It took almost 60 years to built a national tribute to WWII Veterans and what happened in the world.

I think another problem that the mint faced in those days was the perception people had as to what and how we celebrate and commemorate. While WWII and Korea produced valiant heroes, they also produced worldly nightmares we still argue over; European and Pacific death camps, global spread of Communism, global spread of Capitalism, Atomic power, the Cold War etc...

Condor identified a problem in the McCarthy era that plagued everyone in Congress and the media; If I recommend someone or thing to be commemorated, what will happen if to me if it has ties to socialism? While we often picture the USA in the 50's as Bucolic and ideal, it just depends on who you talk to.

Sorry for the long rant.