Coinage Act, 1964: Doublespeak

When Lyndon B Johnson signed the Coinage Act of 1964 into law,  he gave a doublespeak speech about the change. He dispelled predictions that the price of silver was set to skyrocket and that there would be hoarding of the precious metals by industry and individuals, although the truth would turn out the opposite. He declared that the gutting of US money would not help to destine the nation’s currency for devaluation, although the opposite would be true. He outright lied:

Our new half dollar will continue our silver tradition. Eighty percent silver on the outside and 19 percent silver inside. It will be nearly indistinguishable in appearance from our present half dollar.

The half dollar in 1965 would only be composed of a 40% silver content. That is a vast departure from “our silver tradition.”

Throughout the speech, truths were served, so as to blur the line of reality. Such as that the reason for the Coinage Act, as given, was that silver was a scarce (Read: valuable) material. Some common premises were asserted, such as that of perpetual population and economic growth, although, at least in terms of the latter, there has been a serious contraction in recent years.

And yet,  a furthering of the misnomers:

Our present silver coins won’t disappear and they won’t even become rarities. We estimate that there are now 12 billion–I repeat, more than 12 billion silver dimes and quarters and half dollars that are now outstanding. We will make another billion before we halt production. And they will be used side-by-side with our new coins.

The piece is a long list of untrue statements. Mixed in, there are some matter-of-fact statements, but their commonality is sparse.  As fans of Bix Weir might take note of, we see that at the bottom of this long list of untruths, one final assertion:

Now, I will sign this bill to make the first change in our coinage system since the 18th century. And to those Members of Congress, who are here on this very historic occasion, I want to assure you that in making this change from the 18th century we have no idea of returning to it.

We are going to keep our eyes on the stars and our feet on the ground.

“I want to assure you that in making this change from the 18th century we have no idea of returning to it.”

The last line is telling. It doesn’t come without plenty of thought behind it. It is almost an allusion to worldwide preservation of resources, manifested in our current economy as austerity. That, instead of reaching the stars, we will keep the collective on a certain level of development.

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