In this thread over in Great Debates, Dopers are discussing the US Mint’s latest effort in trying to introduce a one-dollar coin in the United States. Gadarene mentions the following:
There are a few not-quite-serious comments in that thread about various presidents, and these got me thinking: what could we say about dollar coins featuring various presidents? A few examples came immediately to mind:
– The President Ford dollar: Accidentally falls out of your pocket all by itself.
– The President Reagan dollar: Never been a dollar before, but was a half-dollar in California for a few years, and played a quarter in a movie back in the 1950s.
– The Woodrow Wilson dollar: This one isn’t round, but has Fourteen Points.
Get the idea? What might the other Presidential Dollar Coins be like?
What the heck are they going to put on the backs of the coins?
[ul]
[li]GWB: The Pet Goat[/li][li]Al Gore[sup]1[/sup]: A hanging chad, a plank (since he’s stiff as a board - get it!), a lunch bag full of cash … [/li][li]Clinton: A cigar! With an image of the White Water development in the background. [/li][li]GHWB: The pair of socks he bought on Christmas to spur the economy.[/li][li]Reagan: Bonzo, or a shredder with Iran-Contra documents, or his horoscope.[/li][li]Carter: Billy Beer, Killer Rabbit, The Great Pyramids[sup]2[/sup] … [/li][li]Ford: A WIN button, the stairs from Air Force One, the door of Marine One, a ski slope … [/li][li]Nixon: Reel-to-reel tape recorder![sup]3[/sup][/li][li]LBJ: His Basset Hounds - with reallly long ears, or his appendix scar.[/li][li]JFK: All the women he slept with. It’ll look like the distaff version of the MLK “March on Washington”. Get your electron microscope and see if you can find Marilyn Monroe! [/li][li]Ike: A vicuna coat.[/li][li]Truman: (This is officially before my time!) Maybe the stamps he put on the threatening letter he sent to a music critic who trashed his daughter’s singing debut. [/li][/ul]
I’m out. Any historically minded Dopers want to pile on? (And I do mean pile on - we have had such nut cases in the White House, we can at least make some jokes at their expense.)
[sup]1[/sup]I know he didn’t win. Since the point of these commemerative coin series is to get collectors to keep as many coins out of circulattion as possible, which makes the government a profit, I figure let’s extend the series. Besides, I don’t get to make Al Gore jokes that often anymore.
[sup]2[/sup]Actually, that would be on the back of the Hamilton Jordan edition of the “Presidential Aides” half-penny. 'Cuz if presidential aides are a dime a dozen, I want to see the guy with the dimes.
[sup]3[/sup]The “Nixon Nickel” was predicted in the 1975 science fiction novel The Computer Connection by Alfred Bester.
The William Henry Harrison dollar will be rolled out with great fanfare, but discontinued and replaced with the John Tyler dollar in less than a month.
The Grover Cleveland dollar will be issued, discontinued, and issued again.