1978 Kennedy Half Dollars Struck Amid Coin’s Waning Presence in Circulation
May 13, 2026
The Kennedy Half Dollar was first struck in 1964 as a tribute to the fallen President John F. Kennedy, who was assassinated on November 22, 1963, during a motorcade procession in Dallas. A mourning nation wrapped its collective hug around the silver 1964 Kennedy Half Dollars, coins that served as silver 50-cent tributes to a dashing president whose thousand days in the White House with his young, photogenic family was endearingly dubbed “Camelot.”
Even after the Kennedy Half Dollar saw its composition debased from 90% silver to 40% silver in 1965, and then eventually copper-nickel clad in 1971, the coin was regarded as something worthy of keeping – something colloquially “special.” In short order, a denomination that had once been commonplace, a single coin deftly capable of replacing two quarters or five dimes, had fallen away from circulation. By the late 1970s, the Kennedy Half Dollar had all but vanished from daily commerce. And this is where the story of the 1978 Kennedy Half Dollar comes into focus.
From PCGS