Do all the U's in the words on the 1930 standing liberty quarter look like V's?

Answer 1

Not all (not the ones in "United" and "quarter"), but otherwise, yes. It is an archaic style used in writing Latin in ancient Rome (it is hard to chisel round letters in stone). The motto "E Pluribus Unum" is in Latin.

CorrectionThe lettering had nothing to do with carving in stone. After all, Latin had letters like C, O, G, and so on! The reason for the use of "V" is that the Latin alphabet only had 24 letters. The letters J and U were added in the Middle Ages. In Latin, I and V served as vowels, consonants, AND numbers. You had to figure it out from the context, just like we do with the letter Y. For example, the emperor whose name we write as "Julius" Caesar would have printed his name as Ivlivs.

During the 1920s there was a revival of interest in classically-themed art, and many artists, not just coin designers, used the Latin alphabet to letter their work. You'll see the same usage on old buildings, paintings, signs, and so on.