Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin now is considering the recommendations of the Dollar Coin Advisory Committee, which voted unanimously to include the peace motto on the new $1 coin to replace the Susan B. Anthony dollar. The United States Dollar Coin Act of 1997 requires the Treasury Department to place into circulation a new dollar coin similar in size to the Anthony dollar, golden in color and with a distinctive edge. The nine-member advisory committee approved an obverse design that will bear a design of Liberty represented by Sacajawea, the Native American woman who assisted in the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1804-06, and other Native American women.

ANA President Anthony Swiatek said, "For several years, the ANA has backed dollar coin proposals. The ANA is indebted to Ken Bressett for leading the charge for a new $1 coin, and I personally am very pleased to see his success in getting the peace motto on the new coin."

"I was really thrilled," Bressett said after returning from his appearance before the committee in Philadelphia. "I couldn't be happier with the outcome."

In his testimony before the advisory committee, Bressett stated, "In contemplating a new design for the dollar coin, I ask that you consider adopting a universally accepted theme that will appeal to all Americans. That theme, I submit, should be our desire for world peace. The American dollar must speak to the next millennium... "

Bressett, who began his "Peace through Coinage" campaign in 1993 when he was elected vice president of the ANA, found support for his plan from dollar coin advisory committee member Arthur Houghton, president of the ANA's sister organization, the American Numismatic Society (ANS). Bressett also found support from artist Ron Landis and 12-year-old Alexander L. Headley, who last year won a $25,000 college scholarship for an essay entitled "A Personal View of American Numismatic Art" for a contest sponsored by the Professional Numismatists Guild (PNG).

The ANA has pushed for and supported legislation for the new, gold-colored $1 coin, introduced last October by Representative Michael Castle (R-Delaware), chairman of the House Subcommittee on Domestic and International Monetary Policy and a member of Rubin's dollar coin design committee. Bressett, a member of the United States Mint's Citizens Commemorative Coin Advisory Committee (CCCAC), worked closely on the legislation with Castle.