Roosevelt’s close call

Franklin D. Roosevelt might have beaten Herbert Hoover in a landslide in the 1932 election, but the difference between the two men’s 2014 Presidential dollar mintages is a squeaker.

While Roosevelt won in 1932 with almost 45 percent more votes than Hoover, mintage of his dollar coin presently stands at 8,680,000 compared to Hoover’s 8,260,000.

That is a win certainly, but as another indicator that history and mintages do not mesh, the mintage total of 9,940,000 for Warren G. Harding exceeds Roosevelt’s by more than a million.

Harding’s administration was marred by the Teapot Dome oil lease scandal, but his untimely death in office in 1923 saw schools and streets named after him.

Calvin Coolidge’s coin total matches Hoover’s at 8,260,000. Known as Silent Cal, he probably would not have had a comment about his standing in the mintage ranks.

Because these Presidential coins are made only to be sold to collectors, all four mintage totals pale in comparison to the 340 million struck in 2007 with the image of George Washington on them.