The Mint began preparation for the reduced-diameter dollar coin in 1976.
Although no legislation had yet been introduced, Treasury officials anticipated a positive reception from Congress, and the coin had near unanimous support from the Mint and the vending machine industry, an influential lobby in the area of coin design and creation.
In 1977, Treasury Secretary Michael Blumenthal publicly endorsed a smaller dollar coin and suggested that an allegorical representation of Liberty would be a suitable subject for the coin.

Chief Engraver Gasparro was tasked with creating a design for the proposed coin.
His obverse design depicted a bust of Liberty, while his reverse depicted a soaring eagle.
The bust was pictured along with a pole, atop which sat a Phrygian cap, a symbol used to represent freedom.
Gasparro's Liberty design was based on a similar obverse that he created for a 1969 American Numismatic Association convention medal.
The reverse, depicting an eagle flying above a mountain against the rising sun, was originally created by Gasparro in 1967 for a proposed commemorative half dollar.
Describing the reverse design, Gasparro stated that it was meant to symbolize "a new day being born".


The design was reviewed by the Commission of Fine Arts, and in an April 29, 1976, letter, Commission member J. Carter Brown praised the design: 
I believe this would be a superb design for United States Coinage, rooted as it is in a great tradition, being based on the 'Liberty Cap cent' of 1794, following Augustin Dupré's Libertas Americana medal commemorating Saratoga and Yorktown (1777–1781).

A bill to reduce the diameter of the dollar from 1.5 inches (38 mm) to 1.043 inches (26.5 mm) and the weight from 22.68 grams to 8.5 grams was introduced to the House of Representatives on May 1, 1978.
The bill was introduced to the Senate on May 3, and the proposed weight was reduced from 8.5 grams to 8.1 grams.
The Mint conducted experiments involving eight-, ten-, eleven- and thirteen-sided coins, but it was decided that the dollar would be round, as costly modifications would be required to update vending machinery to accept other shapes.
Instead, the bill prescribed an eleven-sided inner border, which was intended to aid identification by sight and by feel for the visually handicapped.
The Mint began preparation for the reduced-diameter dollar coin in 1976. Although no legislation had yet been introduced, Treasury officials anticipated a positive reception from Congress, and the coin had near unanimous support from the Mint and the vending machine industry, an influential lobby in the area of coin design and creation. In 1977, Treasury Secretary Michael Blumenthal publicly endorsed a smaller dollar coin and suggested that an allegorical representation of Liberty would be a suitable subject for the coin.
Chief Engraver Gasparro was tasked with creating a design for the proposed coin. His obverse design depicted a bust of Liberty, while his reverse depicted a soaring eagle. The bust was pictured along with a pole, atop which sat a Phrygian cap, a symbol used to represent freedom. Gasparro's Liberty design was based on a similar obverse that he created for a 1969 American Numismatic Association convention medal. The reverse, depicting an eagle flying above a mountain against the rising sun, was originally created by Gasparro in 1967 for a proposed commemorative half dollar. Describing the reverse design, Gasparro stated that it was meant to symbolize "a new day being born".

The design was reviewed by the Commission of Fine Arts, and in an April 29, 1976, letter, Commission member J. Carter Brown praised the design: 
I believe this would be a superb design for United States Coinage, rooted as it is in a great tradition, being based on the 'Liberty Cap cent' of 1794, following Augustin Dupré's Libertas Americana medal commemorating Saratoga and Yorktown (1777–1781).
A bill to reduce the diameter of the dollar from 1.5 inches (38 mm) to 1.043 inches (26.5 mm) and the weight from 22.68 grams to 8.5 grams was introduced to the House of Representatives on May 1, 1978. The bill was introduced to the Senate on May 3, and the proposed weight was reduced from 8.5 grams to 8.1 grams. The Mint conducted experiments involving eight-, ten-, eleven- and thirteen-sided coins, but it was decided that the dollar would be round, as costly modifications would be required to update vending machinery to accept other shapes. Instead, the bill prescribed an eleven-sided inner border, which was intended to aid identification by sight and by feel for the visually handicapped.
Susan B. Anthony dollar