the Lincoln Penny



Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I revere the greatest Republican of them all. Abraham Lincoln was the first actual person depicted on a U.S. coin.

President Theodore Roosevelt instructed the Treasury Department to develop coinage with more artistic designs. This undertaking included a replacement for the Indian Head penny. In the centenary year of his birth, the Lincoln Penny was crafted.

The portrait was based on a Matthew Brady photograph. July 14th 1909, President William Howard Taft’s Treasury Secretary, Franklin MacVeagh, approved the new coin. Demand was intense, with people lining up for it at banks.

February 2025, President Donald Trump ordered the Treasury Department to end production of the coin, which by then cost much more than one cent each.

Back to Basics for the Republican Party is my civil rights history of the GOP. To quote the book: "The more we Republicans know about the history of our party, the more Democrats will worry about the future of theirs. For more information, see www.grandoldpartisan.com. 

Here is a YouTube Video about this article.

Here is a TikTok Video about this article.

Here is an Instagram Video about this article.

Here is my Substack about this article.

Michael Zak is author of Back to Basics for the Republican Party, a history of GOP civil rights achievement.


Each day, his YouTube videos and TikTok videos and Rumble videos and Grand Old Partisan blog celebrate more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. And, see Speech Raves for audience feedback from his presentations in thirty-one states.

Clarence Thomas cited Back to Basics for the Republican Party in a Supreme Court decision.

"This is the most amazing book about politics that I have ever read. The Overview should be required reading for anyone with even a minor interest in government. The remainder is an enthralling history lesson that I will never forget. For years, we have all been misled about the true nature of the GOP. This is the real deal! Read it and be proud!"

"Your book is a national treasure. I'm always recommending it."

"Michael Zak wrote the definitive history of the GOP."

"Back to Basics for the Republican Party is the most significant contribution to the Republican Party in the last twenty years apart from Ronald Reagan."

"Back to Basics for the Republican Party is more important to our party now than ever before."

and

"one of the best books I ever read"

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