The Louisiana Purchase Sesquicentennial half dollar was a proposed United States commemorative coin. Intended for the 150th anniversary of the Louisiana Purchase, the coin was lobbied for by the Missouri Historical Society (MHS) and the Louisiana Purchase 150th Anniversary Association of New Orleans, led by Clay Shaw; they hoped to be able to buy the entire coin issue from the government and sell it at a profit. Numismatist Eric P. Newman advocated for the bill on behalf of the MHS. The House of Representatives passed authorizing legislation in April 1953, but the Senate was slower to act, passing it in January 1954. The Treasury Department strongly opposed the bill, and President Dwight D. Eisenhower vetoed it and two other commemorative coin bills on February 3, 1954; Congress made no attempt to override the vetoes. No commemorative coins were authorized or issued by the United States after 1954 until a new issue was authorized in 1981. Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisiana_Purchase_Sesquicentennial_half_dollar> _______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries: 1687: The Parthenon in Athens was partly destroyed (painting of ruins shown) in an explosion while being used as a gunpowder magazine by Ottoman forces during an armed conflict against the Venetians. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parthenon> 1959: Japan was struck by Typhoon Vera, the strongest and deadliest typhoon on record to make landfall on the country, causing damage in excess of US$261 million and over 5,000 deaths. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typhoon_Vera> 1968: The Beatles completed the recording of John Lennon's song "Happiness Is a Warm Gun", regarded by all the band members as their favourite on the album The Beatles. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happiness_Is_a_Warm_Gun> 2014: Forty-three students of the Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers' College in Iguala, Mexico, were kidnapped and presumably later killed. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Iguala_mass_kidnapping> _____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day: learn the ropes: 1. (originally nautical, informal) To learn the basics or master introductory knowledge. 2. (informal) To learn some skill requiring specialist knowledge. <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/learn_the_ropes> ___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:   We must always take risks. That is our destiny.   --The Cocktail Party <https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Cocktail_Party>