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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Conder101, post: 2464614, member: 66&quot;]Kennedy had nothing to do with it.&nbsp; It was strictly a matter of swapping a political favor for votes.&nbsp; The government DID want to remove all the silver from the coinage, but the Senators from the silver producing states&nbsp; wanted to protect their constituents market and wanted to keep silver in the coins.&nbsp; They had enough votes to prevent the bill mandating the clad composition from passing.&nbsp; So in order to get their votes on the clad coinage those Senators were given two concessions.&nbsp; The half dollar would be made of 40% silver and there would be a coinage of 50 million Silver dollars.&nbsp; With those promises they voted to authorize the clad coins.&nbsp; Then the government reneged on the silver dollar.&nbsp; The 40% half was produced through 1970 with the last year being a&nbsp; collector set only piece, and rising silver prices finally ended the 40% silver half as well.</p><p><br /></p><p>And yes the 1982 Washington half dollar was the first 90% silver coin the Mint made after ending the 1964 coinage.</p><p><br /></p><p>Why the Bicentennial silver commems were made in 40% and not 90% I can&#039;t say.&nbsp; To keep the price of the set down maybe?&nbsp; Or possibly because they were used to working with 40% silver clad and not 90%.&nbsp; The mint hadn&#039;t made any 90% silver coins in over ten years, but they had been working with 40% every year since 1965.&nbsp; Kind of like the problems they had in 2009 working with the 95% copper composition for the mint and proof sets.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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