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The new semiquincentennial dime has an eagle holding arrows but no olive branch.<\/span>US Mint<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n When Charles Thomson<\/span> and William Barton designed the Great Seal of the United States more than 200 years ago, they were unambiguous about its meaning. A bald eagle would clutch arrows in one set of talons, symbolizing war, and an olive branch in the other, symbolizing peace. In 1945, President Harry Truman officially declared<\/a> that the bird\u2019s head should always face toward the olive branch\u2014denoting America\u2019s preference for peace.<\/p>\n Now, the administration of the self-proclaimed \u201cpresident of peace<\/a>\u201d\u2014who claims to have ended eight wars<\/a>, even as he starts new ones<\/a>\u2014will mint dimes without the olive branch at all. It\u2019s part of the US Mint\u2019s semiquincentennial line, a one-year-only redesign of US coinage commemorating America\u2019s 250th birthday.<\/p>\n The new designs were unveiled in December, but the absence of the olive branch on the back of the dime came under renewed scrutiny this past week after it was highlighted by Fortune<\/em><\/a>. News editor Catherina Gioino wrote that the \u201comission is hard to read as accidental,\u201d calling it a \u201ccultural signal\u201d of our war-torn times.<\/p>\n The medallic artist behind the dime, Eric David Custer, told Spotlight PA<\/a> in February that the lack of the olive branch is a reference to the American Revolution, when colonists were striving for peace but hadn\u2019t yet achieved it. But Frank L. Holt, an emeritus professor of history at the University of Houston, said in an interview with the Washington Post<\/em><\/a> that the controversy over the dropped olive branch \u201ccondemns the whole design.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMoney talks, but it should speak plainly and with clear purpose,\u201d Holt said.\u00a0<\/p>\n The commemorative coin line is just one of many ways that the Trump administration has used America\u2019s 250th anniversary as an opportunity to crusade against diversity, equity, and inclusion and rewrite America\u2019s history<\/a> in Trump\u2019s image. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n Indeed, it\u2019s difficult not to see the new dime within the context of other coinage decisions at the US Mint. All of the semiquincentennial designs had to receive final approval from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who axed several recommendations developed under President Joe Biden\u2019s administration by the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee. The rejected designs included coins<\/a> that featured renowned abolitionist Frederick Douglass and ones commemorating women\u2019s suffrage and school desegregation. In December, US Treasurer Brandon Beach decried those designs as part of Biden\u2019s \u201cDEI and Critical Race Theory policies.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe new Semiquincentennial Quarter designs will celebrate American history and the founding of our great nation,\u201d Beach told<\/a> Fox News. \u201cThe Trump administration is dedicated to fostering prosperity and patriotism.\u201d<\/p>\n The commemorative coin line is just one of many ways that the Trump administration has used America\u2019s 250th anniversary as an opportunity to crusade against diversity, equity, and inclusion and rewrite America\u2019s history<\/a> in President Donald Trump\u2019s image. Scowling next to portraits of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, Trump\u2019s face has graced National Park Service passes and massive banners draped from federal buildings. <\/p>\n And, naturally, Trump\u2019s face was one of the designs proposed<\/a> by the US Mint for a semiquincentennial $1 coin.<\/p>\n In December, Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) introduced a bill, titled the \u201cChange Corruption Act,\u201d to block any living president from appearing on US currency.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile monarchs put their faces on coins,\u201d Cortez Masto said in a press release<\/a>, \u201cAmerica has never had and never will have a king.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n