Trivial Trivia - taking trivia to new levels

[Joe Di Cola]

OK, I need help again in answering a trivial question. Yesterday, I had four of my maintenance men spend an hour in my office (on their lunch hour) asking questions about the Surratts and the Lincoln assassination and the Civil War in general. It was a great experience for me - just like being back in the classroom with students who wanted to learn!

One young gentleman (whom I first met about a year ago and immediately pegged him as a punk - he's not) asked the following question:

"How come Lincoln is the only president on a U.S. coin to face right instead of left?" Everybody dug in their pockets, and we did find that the new nickels that are being minted have Jefferson facing right; but that's only been within the past few years. So, back to the original question - does anyone know why Lincoln is facing right?

The artist, Brenner, had previously produced a medal of Lincoln (also facing right) and modelled the Lincoln of the penny after the medal. [Alternate but stupid answer...Lincoln, like John Barrymore, had a good and a bad side and Brenner chose to shpw the good side--HaHa]