Hertzberg writes that the “In God We Trust” motto has been on U.S. minted coins since 1864. A fascinating historical asterisk to this fact is that in 1907, the first year of the St. Gaudens twenty-dollar gold piece, President Theodore Roosevelt directed that its design omit those words. Roosevelt was a devout Christian, but he believed that such religious mottoes had no place on coinage. However, following political pressure from Congress, he reversed his decision, and the 1908 St. Gaudens twenty-dollar piece has two versions: one with the words “In God We Trust” and one without them.
John T. Selawsky