Part I
At present, we tend to think that presidents have little direct influence or control of the coinage and this is usually true, but there have been instances where the chief executive had decisive input into the artwork or circulation of our money. It all began with the first president, George Washington, in the early months of 1792 when the first coinage bill was being debated in Congress.
The Senate, the more aristocratic of the two bodies, believed that the portrait of the current president ought to appear on the coinage, just as it was in those days for kings and emperors. The House of Representatives disagreed, and there is a long-standing tradition that Washington privately intervened in the dispute to say that he was opposed to the idea. Enough Senators got the hint that they agreed to the House demands and dropped the provision.
However, tradition is not always quite right, and a unique 1792 cent pattern seems to say otherwise. It has “GW PT” (George Washington President) at the lower edge of the reverse and was apparently struck while the Senate was debating the matter.
It is clearly an attempt at compromise that did not succeed when the Senate dropped the presidential reference.
This pattern was semi-official in nature because the obverse legend found its way to the 1792 half disme, and that coinage was under the direct charge of the president. It is thus clear that Washington had quietly approved
