My 1961 Mint Set
Private
Updated:
3/23/2026
Views: 40
It is a rare thing when a particular year is dominated by an event or a person. 1961 was the year of John F. Kennedy.
The photograph to the left was taken on January 20, 1961 of John F. Kennedy giving his inaugural address. This was the day have a big winter storm and it was cold. Notice no heavy coat or hat - ah to be young and strong!
On JFK's right was the outgoing President Dwight David Eisenhower and on his left sat Lyndon Johnson the incoming VP and Richard Nixon the outgoing VP. Both would become President and both would serve one full term and a partial term. Johnson would finish JFK's term and hold office until 1969 when Nixon started his first term, but he wouldn't finish his second term because of the Watergate Scandal and his resigning in August of 1974.
Events of 1961 seemed to center on the White House and its occupants most of 1961. The President was charismatic and he had a young family and stylish wife. Kennedy was a Senator representing Massachusettes and an author when he was elected. He was also a bit of a war hero too, having fought in the Pacific. All of this was on television almost every night it seemed.
1961 was a year of optimism. NASA was gaining momentium, there was a legislative agenda including medicare, the Peace C
It is a rare thing when a particular year is dominated by an event or a person. 1961 was the year of John F. Kennedy.
John Kennedy was assassinated in November of 1963. Lyndon Johnson would become President, he would get the Civil Rights Act through Congress in 1964, but in 1965 he sent the Ninth Marine Regiment into Vietnam followed quickly by more combat formations including the 26th Marine Regiment and the First Calvary Division, and the 101st Airborne and the 100,000 men that saw the beginning of 1966 would turn into 500,000 by 1969 with all or parts of ten Army divisions and nearly third of our Marine Corps. Our world changed from Kennedy's Camelot into something far more senister. 1961 was the threshold to the Camelot we all relished. When Camelot fell in 1963 it made the fall seem so much worse.
The event cconcerning the Presidency were mirrored by our coinage. The Franklin Half Dollar series was truncated due to the death of a popular President and the Kennedy Half Dollar replaced Ben Franklin's. The discussion concerning the metalurgy of our circulating coins in the Congress put an end date on silver in the dime, quarter, half dollar, and would impact coins in later years too.
My thoughts are this was the ending a time of innocence as were also neared the end of silver in our coins, and remarkable parallel.
This set was started on February 2, 2026.
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