Editorial: Minting history

Monday, Aug. 20, 2007 | 7:10 a.m.

Quick, who was the third president of the United States?

Only three of 10 Americans correctly answered Thomas Jefferson, according to a recent Gallup Poll survey. Worse, only 7 percent could identify the first four presidents in the order they served - George Washington, John Adams, Jefferson and James Madison.

The U.S. Mint sees statistics such as that and hopes its new series of $1 coins honoring presidents will give people a better sense of American history. On Wednesday it released its third coin in the series, honoring the third president.

"This series of circulating coins provides the perfect opportunity for Americans to learn more about our presidents and the critical role they played in some of our nation's historic milestones," said Ed Moy, the Mint's director.

That is a valiant effort following the successful state quarter program, but educating the public through a $1 coin probably will do little to help. Outside of collectors, who are intrigued by writing etched into the edges of the golden coins, there has been little interest.

The presidential coins are running into the same problem that their predecessors, the Susan B. Anthony and the Sacagawea coins faced. There was little knowledge of the coins, businesses questioned whether they were legal and vending machines typically didn't take them.

Predictably, the Mint has seen a drop in demand for the coins since it started the series six months ago with 303 million Washington coins. There were orders for 200 million Adams coins and 170 million Jefferson coins.

The sluggish interest may be because of the fact that Americans overwhelmingly prefer dollar bills. Still, the Mint's idea to try to use the coins to educate people about history is interesting, and we wish more people would be interested.