Issue of Face

A woman on the dollar

Susan B. Anthony, the celebrated suffragist (1820-1906), is the front runner, but Amelia Earhart is closing fast, well ahead of Helen Keller, Eleanor Roosevelt, Harriet Tubman, Jackie Onassis, Elizabeth Taylor, Fanny Farmer, Grandma Moses, Martha Mitchell, Sara Lee, Anita Bryant, Shirley Temple and Whistler's Mother. All are candidates in a campaign to put a woman's face on a dollar coin that the Government plans to issue, probably in mid-1979. Since word became known of the plan, the Treasury has been receiving 700 to 800 nominations a day.

The Treasury officially favors putting Miss Liberty on the coin, but even in the department there is division. Treasurer Azie Morton champions a "real woman," and Under Secretary Bette Anderson touts Miss Liberty. The Congressional Women's Caucus wants Anthony. Pro-Anthony bills have been introduced in the Senate and the House. Whoever is on its face, the new coin will have advantages: it will be easy to use in vending machines, and will save the Government $4.5 million a year because it will not wear out for 15 years, vs. 18 months for dollar bills, which will remain in circulation. In an unintended tribute to inflation, the new dollar will be just larger than a quarter.

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