How the Penny Got its Face
Updated February 23, 2017 | Factmonster Staff 
The Question:
Line up the nickel, the dime, the quarter, and the penny. Why are the other presidents turning their backs on Abraham Lincoln?
The Answer:
According to the U.S. Mint, The likeness of President Abraham Lincoln on the penny is an adaption of a plaque executed by portraitist and sculptor Victor David Brenner. President Theodore Roosevelt was so impressed with Mr. Brenner's design of a Lincoln plaque that he recommended to the Secretary of the Treasury that the design be placed on a coin to be issued in the Lincoln Centennial Year, 1909.
The direction that Lincoln faces on the cent was not mandated-this was simply the choice of the designer.
-The Fact Monster
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