--- title: Gold and the Value of the U.S. Dollar: Why They're Separate description: It was 45 years ago that Richard Nixon ended the system that linked the value of the dollar to the treasury's stock of gold. Here's why. canonical: https://time.com/4444172/gold-standard-history/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-15T10:00:51.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T23:50:54.649Z article:section: History og:title: The U.S. Dollar Hasn't Been Linked to Gold for 45 Years. Here's Why og:description: Nixon ended the system that linked the value of the dollar to the treasury's stock of gold og:url: https://time.com/4444172/gold-standard-history/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7bc49d8c8eea714c/698778933c16392a22451052/money-dollar-bills-3.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: TIME.com stock photos Money Dollar Bills og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The U.S. Dollar Hasn't Been Linked to Gold for 45 Years. Here's Why twitter:description: Nixon ended the system that linked the value of the dollar to the treasury's stock of gold twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7bc49d8c8eea714c/698778933c16392a22451052/money-dollar-bills-3.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The U.S. Dollar Hasn't Been Linked to Gold for 45 Years. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription.  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Aug 15, 2016 10:00 AM UTC  Elizabeth Renstrom for TIME  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Aug 15, 2016 10:00 AM UTC It was 45 years ago, on Aug. 15, 1971, when President Richard Nixon [announced](https://history.state.gov/milestones/1969-1976/nixon-shock) that the decades-old monetary system that had controlled the U.S. dollar—and thus the world’s currency values—for more than three decades just wasn’t working anymore. To most Americans the news, [known](http://time.com/vault/issue/1971-10-04/page/35/) as the “Nixon shock,” wasn’t actually shocking. War in Vietnam had drained America’s resources, world currency speculation was rampant and 1970 saw the [biggest deficit](http://time.com/vault/issue/1971-05-17/page/111/) thus far in U.S. history. “In the past seven years, there has been an average of one international monetary crisis every year,” Nixon said in his [speech](http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=3115) outlining his new economic policy. “Now who gains from these crises? Not the workingman; not the investor; not the real producers of wealth. The gainers are the international money speculators. Because they thrive on crises, they help to create them. In recent weeks, the speculators have been waging an all-out war on the American dollar. The strength of a nation’s currency is based on the strength of that nation’s economy—and the American economy is by far the strongest in the world. Accordingly, I have directed the Secretary of the Treasury to take the action necessary to defend the dollar against the speculators.” That action? To “suspend temporarily the convertibility of the dollar into gold.” [_Get your history fix in one place: sign up for the weekly TIME History newsletter_](http://time.com/newsletter) When Nixon announced what was coming, TIME [explained](http://time.com/vault/issue/1971-08-30/page/16/) why the move was on its way: --- > “” --- There was, essentially, no going back, despite Nixon’s “temporarily” caveat. In the decades that followed, the U.S. and world economies would rise and fall and rise and fall, without the help of gold. Even decades later, however, the [lure of gold](http://time.com/vault/issue/2009-12-07/page/26/) still calls to many so-called goldbugs. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4444172/gold-standard-history/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4444172/gold-standard-history/"},"headline":"The U.S. Dollar Hasn't Been Linked to Gold for 45 Years. 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