 Ashbrook was defeated for re @-@ election in the 1920 elections ; at that time congressional terms did not end until March 4 of the following year . He was friendly with the new committee chairman Albert Henry Vestal ( Republican – Indiana ) , and persuaded him to schedule a hearing on the peace coin proposal for December 14 , 1920 . Though no bill was put before it , the committee heard from the ANA delegates , discussed the matter , and favored the use of the silver dollar , which as a large coin had the most room for an artistic design . The committee took no immediate action ; in March 1921 , after the Harding administration took office , Vestal met with the new Secretary of the Treasury , Andrew W. Mellon , and Mint Director Raymond T. Baker about the matter , finding them supportive so long as the redesign involved no expense . 
