Is it true that no living person can be depicted on a U.S. Coin?

Question

If so, how is it that Neil Armstrong is depicted on the Ohio Quarter?

Answer 1

Actually it is a law but has been broken quite a few times. When it suites the powers to be, congress okays an exception, or the law if ignored. There are a couple of commemorative 1/2 dollars from the 1930 that have a living person on them. In 1995 the special Olympics 1/2 dollar has a living person on it (Eunice Shriver). Clinton and congress oked that. It started back in the Civil War days with fractional currency, one of the big whigs had his portrait put on a note and that got Congress into a tiff so they passed a law. George Washington was adamant about having his portrait or any other person on a coin living or dead. He told Congress that under no circumstances should he be ever put on a coin. So in 1932 the government went against his wishes and there he is on a quarter.

Answer 2

It is federal law that no living person can appear on US coins, and for the Presidential Dollar Coin Program, presidents must be dead for at least two years before they are eligible for inclusion in the series. As for the Ohio State Quarter, it only depicts an astronaut, to represent the contributions Ohio has made to the United States space efforts. Nothing to suggest that the astronaut is Amstrong.

Answer 3

A controversy happened on the third issue of the 5 Cent Notes, Spencer M. Clark the first superintendent of the National Currency Bureau (now the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing) had his portrait printed on the fractional note, a practice barred by law (the currency can portray notable U.S. citizens only after at least two years have followed the subject's death.)
The official description for the reverse of the Ohio quarter is
Wright Flyer, spacesuit, state outline
Caption: "Birthplace of Aviation Pioneers"
so while the spacesuit could be argued that it represents an individual, it is simply a representation of the state's aviation pedigree.