Is the Gold Standard Really Important?

The gold standard was a little piece of monetary policy that is key to understanding why the wealthy villains in the smoke-filled room hated FDR so so much. When FDR arrived in office in March of 1933, the country was in the midst of a banking crisis. To avert further banking system catastrophe and get cash flowing, Roosevelt closed all of the banks. He quickly signed an executive order for Americans to hand over their gold to the government at the going rate of $20.67 an ounce.