Monroe Doctrine Centennial half dollar

The Monroe Doctrine Centennial half dollar was a fifty-cent piece struck by the United States Bureau of the Mint. The coin was issued in commemoration of the centennial of the Monroe Doctrine. Sculptor Chester Beach is credited with the design, although the reverse closely resembles an earlier work by Raphael Beck. The coins did not sell well and the bulk of the mintage of over 270,000 was released into circulation.

About Monroe Doctrine Centennial half dollar in brief

The Monroe Doctrine Centennial half dollar was a fifty-cent piece struck by the United States Bureau of the Mint. The coin was issued in commemoration of the centennial of the Monroe Doctrine and was produced at the San Francisco Mint in 1923. Sculptor Chester Beach is credited with the design, although the reverse closely resembles an earlier work by Raphael Beck. The coins did not sell well, and the bulk of the mintage of over 270,000 was released into circulation. Many of the pieces that had been sold at a premium and saved were spent during the Depression; most surviving coins show evidence of wear. The Monroe Doctrine became an important part of United States foreign policy in the second half of the 19th and into the 20th century. It warned European nations against new colonial ventures in the Americas, and against interference with Western Hemisphere governments. In the early 1820s, the U.S. deemed two matters untoward interference by European powers in its zone of influence. The first was the Russian Ukase of 1821, asserting exclusive territorial and trading rights along much of what is today Canada’s Pacific coast. The second was possible European threats against the Latin American nations, newly independent from Spain. The policy which would, some 30 years later, come to be called the \”Monroe Doctrine\” was contained in the President’s annual message to Congress on December 2, 1823. It had little practical effect at the time, as the United states lacked the ability to enforce it militarily and most European powers ignored it, considering it beneath their dignity even to respond to such a proclamation.

The United States did not issue a formal protest when several European powers dispatched men to settle land in the Guianas in the 1830s. The Mexican–American War of 1846–1848 increased Latin American suspicions over the doctrine, as many south of the border felt that the American purpose in warning European powers to keep out was to acquire the land for itself. By 1922, the Hollywood film industry had been rocked by a number of scandals. These included the mysterious shooting death of film director William Desmond Taylor and the mysterious death of actress Mabel Normand. Actor Roscoe \”Fatty\” Arbuckle was acquitted of three trials of manslaughter, but the negative publicity ended his career as well as the death of Virginia Rappee. The film industry was moving from such eastern venues as Fort Lee, New Jersey, after the 1910s after the Fort Fort Lee area, the area after which the film industry moved to Los Angeles. The exposition was a financial failure, and organizers associated the exposition with the 100th anniversary of the Monroe Doctrine, and legislation for a commemorative half dollar for the100th anniversary was passed. It was not until the 1930s that Congress issued the commemorative coin as a fundraiser for the fair, which was held in Los Angeles in mid-1923. The exhibit was held at the Los Angeles Convention Center and was called the “World’s Fair of Motion Pictures”

Related posts:

Maine Centennial half dollar Bridgeport, Connecticut, Centennial half dollar Cleveland Centennial half dollar Fort Vancouver Centennial half dollar