High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Kennedy half dollar, first minted in 1964, is a currently struck fifty cent coin issued by the United States Mint. Intended as a memorial to the assassinated President John F. Kennedy, it was authorized by Congress just over a month after his death. Use of existing works by Mint sculptors Gilroy Roberts and Frank Gasparro allowed dies to be prepared quickly, and striking of the new coins began in January 1964.