Was a U.S. Quarter Recalled Because Some Considered it 'Obscene'?

And was There Hanky-Panky Between the Designer and One, or Two Models?

If we are to believe the seemingly endless reports, comments, and observations in the media, Janet Jackson's Super Bowl Halftime stunt was so shocking it has no equal in offending the morals of American public.

But do you recall that Attorney General John Ashcroft cost our government $8,000 in recent memory to cover the "politically incorrect" bare-breasted statue at the Justice Department? All the ruckus might have caused a chuckle to many people across the country. But nobody laughs at government waste, or stupidity.

However, such shenanigans by Ms Jackson and Mr. Ashcroft are old hat to those who remember when the redesigned, modest version, of the artistically beautiful Liberty Standing Quarters circulated throughout the United States from 1916-1930 (many until 1964). The original design, with Miss Liberty's right breast (same as Janet's!) fully exposed resulted in cries of "obscene" and "indecent" from church pulpits, veterans organizations, women's groups, and even the media of the day, when the silver twenty-five cent pieces made their debut. So the offending coin was recalled, redesigned and reissued.

To tell the story properly, let's start at the beginning, and you be the judge:

When the French ship Isere brought 214 crates containing the statue known as Liberty Enlightening the World to America's shores more than a century ago, it was no surprise that the French sculpture, (which is today recognized the world over as the Statue of Liberty) would be depicted as a woman.

Womanhood had served as the emblematic representation of Liberty on U.S. coinage since 1792, when Congress commissioned engraver Robert Birch to create appropriate devices for this country's first coins. At the time, some favored a coinage bearing a likeness of President George Washington, but the president, and a majority in Congress, disapproved of the idea as a monarchal practice. Remember, less than 20 years earlier we had fought the Revolution to be done once and for all with kings and queens.