WTF Happened in 1971?

The second week of August the British Ambassador appeared at the treasury Department to ask that three billion dollars be converted into gold. Whether we honored or denied this request the consequences of our action would be fraught with danger, if we gave the British the gold they wanted then other countries might rush to get theirs if we refused then that would be an admission that our concern that we could not meet every potential demand for conversion into gold…. There was substantial disagreement on closing the gold window, in other words suspending the convertibility of the dollar into gold… I decided to close the gold window and let the dollar float as events unfolded this decision turned out to be the best thing that came out of the whole economic program I announced on August 15th of 1971.

– Richard Nixon, RN: The Memoirs of Richard Nixon

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