In the early 1950s complaints from the public about how proceeds from the commemorative coin program were handled placed the program in jeopardy. Subsequent lackluster sales of the last few issues resulted in the demise of the program.

   The Bicentennial of the United States in 1976 brought circulating commemorative coinage to collectors, and the response was very positive. The public had grown so used to a particular set of coinage designs that the bicentennial coinage was something new, something different to collect.

   The success of the Bicentennial coinage presented Congress with an opportunity to approach a commemorative coin idea once again, and the 250th anniversary of George Washington's birth gave them the subject. Ensuring certain safeguards were in place to ward against the abuses that had ended the commemorative program in 1954, a bill to strike commemorative half dollars was passed into law on December 23, 1981.

   Since the reinstatement of the commemorative program in 1982, there have been a number of successful issues in half dollar, dollar, five dollar gold, and ten dollar gold.