What year was the US half dollar discontinued?

Answer 1

The Half Dollar denomination has never been discontinued. The current Kennedy design has been issued every year since 1964, although mintage has declined recently. Half-dollars once circulated regularly, and their lack of use in circulation resulted from a series of historical events and bureaucratic blunders on the part of the Mint. When President Kennedy was assassinated in 1963 there was a call for him to be honored on a coin. At first a commemorative quarter was proposed but that was quickly shoved aside in favor of a regular circulation coin. It was felt that removing Washington from the quarter would be too disruptive, and because the half was the only denomination that did not already have a presidential portrait (it had Ben Franklin's picture), putting JFK on the half would create a complete Presidential series of coins. The first Kennedy halves were struck in early 1964. Almost all of them immediately disappeared into drawers and safe-deposit boxes as keepsakes. Then later that year the price of silver shot up and silver coins of all denominations started to be hoarded for their metal value. The Mint decided to eliminate silver from dimes and quarters as of 1965, and make them from copper-nickel instead. However, (as it turned out, foolishly) they kept making halves out of silver as a "prestige" coin. Over the next few years halves continued to be hoarded for their silver content, so consumers learned to use 3 quarters instead of a half and a quarter to make change.

It took the mint bureaucrats till 1971 to admit they had made a mistake and convert the coin to copper-nickel. But during the 7 years since 1964 many cash registers and vending machines were made without slots for half dollars, so use of the coin tanked. In addition the fact that 1965-69 halves still contained silver led to urban legends that the new copper-nickel halves also had silver hidden in them, so even those coins were hoarded.

The result is that many people under the age of 40 have never even seen a half dollar in change, and are very surprised or confused when they find one even though they remain legal tender and are still being minted.