The Gadsden Purchase half dollar was a proposed commemorative coin to be
issued by the United States Bureau of the Mint. El Paso coin dealer
L. W. Hoffecker (pictured) wanted a coin issued he could control and
distribute. He gained the support of several members of Congress, and a
bill was introduced. Treasury Secretary Andrew W. Mellon sent a letter
and two officials in opposition to the bill at its committee hearing,
but it passed both houses of Congress without dissent. On April 21,
1930, President Herbert Hoover vetoed the bill, deeming commemorative
coins abusive; the House of Representatives sustained his veto. No
commemorative coins were struck during the remainder of the Hoover
administration, and although they began again after Franklin D.
Roosevelt was inaugurated, in 1938, Roosevelt vetoed one, citing
Hoover's action, as would Truman and Eisenhower. No commemorative coins
were struck from 1955 until after the Treasury Department changed its
position in 1981.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gadsden_Purchase_half_dollar>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1944:
The United States Forest Service authorized the use of Smokey
Bear as its mascot to replace Bambi.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smokey_Bear>
1974:
On the verge of impeachment and removal from office amidst the
Watergate scandal, Richard Nixon became the first president of the
United States to resign his office.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Nixon>
2001:
A suicide bomber attacked a Sbarro pizza restaurant in
Jerusalem, killing 15 people and wounding 130 others.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sbarro_restaurant_suicide_bombing>
2014:
Michael Brown, an 18-year-old African-American man, was killed
by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, resulting in widespread
protests and unrest.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Michael_Brown>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
impeachment:
1. (countable) The act of calling into question or challenging the
accuracy or propriety of something.
2. (countable, law) A demonstration in a court of law, or before another
finder of fact, that a witness was ingenuine before, and is therefore
less likely to tell the truth now.
3. (countable, law, Britain) An accusation that a person has committed a
crime against the state, such as treason.
4. (countable, law, chiefly US) The act of impeaching or charging a
public official with misconduct, especially if serious, often with the
aim of having the official dismissed from office.
5. (uncountable) The state of being impeached.
6. (uncountable, archaic) Hindrance; impediment; obstruction.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/impeachment>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
The need to speak the truth and even to seek it for oneself is
only conceivable in so far as the individual thinks and acts as one of a
society, and not of any society … but of a society founded on
reciprocity and mutual respect, and therefore on cooperation.
--Jean Piaget
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jean_Piaget>
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