the Lincoln cent, Roosevelt dime, Washington quarter, and Kennedy half all began life with the intention of being a commemorative, but unfortunately those designs stayed and never returned to the previous designs as intended. the founding fathers did not want coinage that paid homage to a real person but rather to an ideal, that of Liberty. Personally, it sickens me that our coinage pays tribute to politicians. I would much prefer that we return to images of Lady Liberty, but since our liberties are always being challenged and diminished, I find that unlikely to ever happen