WTF Happened in 1971? — Day 1/17 On a Sunday evening, August 15, 1971, President Nixon went on live television and made an announcement that would reshape the global economy. He suspended the dollar's convertibility into gold. "Temporarily." Here's what that actually means: Since 1944, the world ran on the Bretton Woods system. Every major currency was pegged to the dollar. And the dollar was pegged to gold at $35 per ounce. Any foreign government could show up with dollars and demand gold in return. This was the leash. It meant the US couldn't print unlimited money, because eventually, someone would come knocking for the gold. By the late 1960s, that's exactly what happened. In February 1965, French President Charles de Gaulle held a press conference and publicly announced France would exchange its dollar reserves for gold. He called the dollar a "credit instrument reserved for one state only." Then he acted on it. Between 1963 and 1966, France repatriated over 3,000 tonnes of gold from the vaults of the New York Federal Reserve and the Bank of England, 44 boat trips and 129 flights to bring it all home to Paris. Other nations followed. The US gold reserves fell from over 20,000 tonnes in 1950 to around 8,100 by 1971. The vault was emptying. The US was spending more than it had — funding the Vietnam War, expanding welfare programs, and the world noticed. The kill shot came on August 12, 1971. The British ambassador walked into the US Treasury and requested $3 billion in gold. Three days later, Nixon went on television. He had two choices: stop spending recklessly, or remove the leash. He removed the leash. That "temporary" suspension became permanent. The dollar, and every currency tied to it, became backed by nothing but trust. No gold. No hard limit. Just a government promise. The era of fiat money had begun. And almost every chart on wtfhappenedin1971.com breaks at this exact moment. Over the next 16 days, I'll show you exactly how.