Or is that just a tradition?
Wasn’t Washinton on something when he was out of office but still living? Or Franklin?
Kennedy made it to the 50-cent piece pretty fast.
For postage stamps, it becomes okay to depict a president on their first birthday after their death. I have no idea about coins though.
Is that a law? I thought the Post Office was independent now. Can’t they honor an event, like a moon shot, and have John Glen in the picture?
Living people have been depicted only on commerative issues. For example, Calvin Coolidge was on a 1926 commemorative celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
Among coins for general circulation, I think the first real person was Abraham Lincoln on the cent in 1909. Before that, the most common subject for the obverse was the goddess Liberty.
The Roosevelt dime was first minted in 1946, the year after FDR died.
The Kennedy half-dollar was first minted in 1964, the year after JFK died.
The Eisenhower dollar was first minted in 1971, two years after Eisenhower died.
I think the delay may be more about prodecural difficulties (legislation, commissioning the design, approving the design, making the dies, etc.) than any law requiring a waiting period. Of course I could be wrong. I expect that when Reagan dies, we will hear clammoring for a Reagan coin.
Do you really think he’s revered enough to make it on a coin? I have my doubts.
Interesting you should mention him, though. I was in Phily this past summer and visited the mint–they strike commerative medallions for each president. The weird thing is that Reagan’s medallion was the worst looking one of the bunch; his face had more fissures than California. Believe me, you wouldn’t want to have to look at that every time you pulled out a handful of coins. (Though I’m sure they’d design a different coin…)
Speaking of Reagan, in a poll I saw he was the number one person that respondants thought should be commerated by having his own coin. I don’t remember where I saw the coin but it was a fairly recent poll.
After A good two and a half minutes of searching the web, I decided to give up looking up the answer. My first reaction was that I heard you had to be dead. Then again, I thought you had to be dead to get an aircraft carrier named after you too, but the USS Ronald Regan proved me wrong there.
Putting Clinton on money would help the economy. People won’t want pictures of him in their pocket and will spend it real quick to get rid of it. Put his mug on the new 3 dollar bills. They can’t put him on postage stamps, as they wouldn’t stick to the envelope. (people would be spitting on the wrong side. Get it?) 
Hmm… I wonder what would be on the reverse… Gorby showing his empty pockets, perhaps?
How 'bout a coin with Gore on one side and Bush on the other? And we’d make it worth an irrational number, like square root of 2 cents.
You mean he’s not 
Then who is that ghost walking around his ranch, sowing cornnuts?