The bill for the Hawaii half dollar passed through Congress without opposition or amendment, and became the Act of March 7, 1928 with the signature of President Calvin Coolidge.

Beach had some trouble gaining approval for his designs, as there were issues raised by the Mint and by Victor Stewart Kaleoaloha Houston, Hawaii Territory's delegate to Congress.

The Hawaii Sesquicentennial half dollar was proposed because of the observances there for the 150th anniversary of Captain James Cook becoming the first European to reach the Hawaiian Islands or, as it was termed then, "its discovery".

A resolution was passed by the legislature of the Territory of Hawaii[a] to give the celebrations official status, and to ask the federal government to have the armed forces participate.

[1] At the time, commemoratives were not sold by the government—Congress, in authorizing legislation, designated an organization which had the exclusive right to purchase the coins at face value and vend them to the public at a premium.

Cartwright had prepared cartoon-style drawings, with the portrait of Cook based on a Wedgwood plaque that had been owned by Queen Emma, showing the explorer facing right.

[4] On November 2, Charles Moore, chairman of the Commission of Fine Arts,[b] wrote to Assistant Director of the Mint Mary M. O'Reilly that Juliette Fraser's sketches were excellent and would translate well into a coin.

[5] The Commission of Fine Arts met and, at the suggestion of sculptor-member Lorado Taft, decided to ask Buffalo nickel designer James Earle Fraser (no relation) who would be most suitable to turn the sketches into plaster models, from which the Mint could make coinage dies and hubs.

James Fraser suggested Peace dollar designer Anthony de Francisci, but sculptor Chester Beach was engaged instead.

[6] Numismatic historian Don Taxay thought it likely that members of the House Committee on Coinage, Weights, and Measures had agreed to support a Hawaii half dollar prior to a bill being submitted, as preparations had already begun.

This had been the case for the Norse-American medal three years previously; its sponsor, committee member Ole J. Kvale of Minnesota, had scuttled plans for a coin because of Treasury Department opposition.

It provided for the issuance of up to 10,000 half dollars in honor of the sesquicentennial, with the commission's profits from the coin to be used toward establishing a Captain James Cook collection in the territorial archives.

[17] On April 19, Mint Chief Engraver John R. Sinnock wrote in a memorandum that the coin would be very hard to produce because the area of greatest relief on each side was in the same part of the design.

He wrote to Moore, "I think the proper thing for Mr. Houston to do would be to take the sculptor and family to Hawaii and let us live in the cocoanut trees for a while and absorb the atmosphere of that paradise.

"[20] The coin was endorsed by the Commission of Fine Arts; on May 9, O'Reilly wrote to Beach that the design had received Secretary Mellon's approval.

[28] The Philadelphia Mint coined 10,008 Hawaii Sesquicentennial half dollars in June 1928, with the eight pieces above the authorized mintage reserved for inspection and testing at the 1929 meeting of the annual Assay Commission.

Fifty of the ten thousand were specially finished as sandblast proof pieces,[29] to be presented to various individuals and institutions, such as members of the Cook commission, President Coolidge, and the British Admiralty.