2026-06-03
39 分钟In 1955, for example, the US had 165% more gold than it needed to redeem all the dollars outside the U.S.
But by 1970, 1971, it only had 25%.
There was a fear in the U.S., and actually in other countries too, that they would come to the U.S.,
say, here are dollars, we want gold, and the U.S. wouldn't be able to redeem it.
Germany alone had more dollars than there was gold in Fort Knox.
So, drumroll.
I have directed Secretary Connally to suspend temporarily the convertibility of the dollar into gold.
Today on the story of money.
What happens when the president of the United States of America
makes a shocking unilateral decision to torpedo the entire post-war global economic order?
And nope, this time we're not talking about Donald Trump.
Let us take you back instead to 9pm East Coast time on the 15th of August 1971. US President Richard
Milhous Nixon is making a surprise appearance on the major TV networks, elbowing aside a scheduled viewing of Bonanza.
That was then the biggest TV show in America at the time.
American audiences had actually grown pretty used to these kind of unscheduled addresses.
Nixon typically used them to explain his latest moves in Vietnam, for example.
But this time, he had a very, very different subject on his mind.
The time has come for a new economic policy for the United States.
Its targets are unemployment, inflation and international speculation.
Unemployment and inflation are big concerns for American voters.