Mary Brooks - Director of The United States Mint

Director of The United States Mint

Brooks was appointed by President Nixon, the third woman named to the post. During her administration, she oversaw the initiation of the Eisenhower dollar coin, as well as the redesign of the United States Bicentennial coinage including the quarter, half dollar, and dollar coins for the United States Bicentennial.

She is also credited with saving the original San Francisco Mint building, known as the "Granite Lady," by transferring it to the Treasury Department. The building, one of the few to survive the Great Earthquake of 1906, had been vacant since 1937 and fallen into disrepair. It is now both a National Historic Landmark and a California Historical Landmark. The city renovated it and located the Museum of the City of San Francisco in the building. Brooks received the “I Left My Heart In San Francisco” Award in 1974 from the San Francisco Convention and Visitors Bureau for her preservation efforts.

During Brooks' tenure as Director of the Mint, she famously led a tour of the United States Bullion Depository at Fort Knox, Kentucky for members of the United States Congress and the news media on September 23, 1974. As of 2012 this tour still is the only time that the inside of the USBD has been seen by members of the public.

In addition, Brooks was awarded the American Numismatic Association’s Medal of Merit in 1988, and was the first woman to receive the United States Treasury Department's highest honor, the Alexander Hamilton Award. She was inducted into the University of Idaho Alumni Association’s Hall of Fame in 1970. The university also conferred upon her an honorary doctorate in 1999.