Public Law 151 – 82d Congress
Chapter 408 – 1st Session
H.R. 3176
September 21, 1951
An Act To amend the Act entitled “An Act to authorize the coinage of 50-cent pieces to commemorate the life and perpetuate the ideals and teachings of Booker T. Washington”, approved August 7, 1946.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Act entitled “An Act to authorize the coinage of 50-cent pieces to commemorate the life and perpetuate the ideals and teachings of Booker T. Washington”, approved August 7, 1946, is amended to read as follows: “That in order to commemorate the lives and perpetuate the ideals and teachings of Booker T. Washington and George Washington Carver, two great Americans, there shall be coined by the Director of the Mint (1) a number of silver 50-cent pieces equal to the number of 50-cent pieces authorized by the Act of August 7, 1946, (60 Stat. 863), but not yet coined on the date of the enactment of this Act, plus (2) an additional number of silver 50-cent pieces equal to the number of 50-cent pieces coined under such Act of August 7, 1946, and returned to the Treasury in accordance with section 5 of this Act. The silver 50-cent pieces authorized by this section shall be of standard size, weight, and fineness, and of a special appropriate design to be fixed by the Director of the Mint with the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury; but the United States shall not be subject to the expense of making the models for master dies or other preparations for the coinage authorized by this section, or to the expense of making any changes in design which may be necessitated by reason of the enactment of this Act.
SEC. 2. The coins authorized by the first section of this Act shall be issued at par, and only upon the request of the Booker T. Washington Birthplace Memorial (established at the birthplace of Booker T. Washington in Franklin County, Virginia) and the George Washington Carver National Monument Foundation (established at the birthplace of George Washington Carver in Diamond, Missouri).
SEC. 3. The coins authorized by the first section of this Act shall be issued in such numbers, and at such times, as shall be requested by the Booker T. Washington Birthplace Memorial and the George Washington Carver National Monument Foundation, and upon payment to the United States of the face value of such coins, except that none of such coins shall be issued after August 7, 1954.
SEC. 4. The coins authorized by the first section of this Act may be disposed of at par or at a premium by banks or trust companies selected by the Booker T. Washington Birthplace Memorial and the George Washington Carver National Monument Foundation, and all proceeds therefrom shall be used, in the manner decided upon by the Booker T. Washington Birthplace Memorial and the George Washington Carver National Monument Foundation to oppose the spread of communism among Negroes in the interest of the national defense.
SEC. 5. (a) From and after the date of the enactment of this Act, no 50-cent pieces shall be coined under the Act of August 7, 1946.
(b) At the request of the Booker T. Washington Birthplace Memorial and the George Washington Carver National Monument Foundation, any of the 50-cent pieces coined under the Act of August 7, 1946, but on the date of the enactment of this Act not yet disposed of in accordance with such Act, shall be returned to or retained in the Treasury, and the Director of the Mint shall melt down such 50-cent pieces and use the resulting metal and material for the coinage of silver 50-cent pieces and use the resulting metal and material for the coinage of silver 50-cent pieces under the first section of this Act.
SEC.6. All laws in force on the date of the enactment of this Act, whether penal or otherwise, relating to the subsidiary silver coins of the United States and the coining or striking thereof, regulating and guarding the process of coinage, providing for the purchase of material and for the transportation, distribution, and redemption of coins, providing for the prevention of debasement and counterfeiting and for the security of the coin, or otherwise relating to coinage, shall, insofar as they are applicable, apply to the coinage authorized by this Act.
Approved September 21, 1951.