Gold Standard lasted Until Nixon

All 44 Allied nations met in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire and signed Agreements during the first three weeks of July 1944.

FDR had taken our currency off the Gold Standard. Bretton Woods was a system of rules, institutions, and procedures to regulate the international monetary system, -- chief among them were --an obligation for each country to adopt a monetary policy that maintained the exchange rate of their currency within a fixed value—plus or minus one percent—in terms of gold and the ability of the IMF to bridge temporary imbalances of payments.

Don't let anyone tell you the gold standard is archaic and wasn't used recently. Nixon was fighting the war in Viet Nam and did not want to raise taxes (sounding familiar yet?) to pay for the war. When he ended Bretton Woods, in 1971, precious metals were stolen from our coinage. The 1960's quarters had silver worth over $5 today. The Federal Reserve had no limits to their power of expansion or inflation.

I feel so much better now that I've got that off my chest. More from NYTs.

And a hearing explaining rising prices and federal reserve actions