Tricky Dick

Tricky Dick (24K gold ash tray) On August 15th, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon decoupled the US dollar from the gold standard, which had been a key tenet of the Bretton Woods agreement established in July of 1944, with the price of gold set at a fixed rate of US $35.00). By creating dollars far in excess of its gold reserves, the US could continue to spend money on The Vietnam War without restraints. The "Nixon Shock" resulted in global inflation and instability throughout the 1970s.