The following was way before my time, but it should be recognized that it was one of the beginnings of the ruination of the U.S. dollar. It took place 90 years ago yesterday.
On April 5, 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued an executive order forcing the American people to surrender their gold. This was illegal on the face of it as executive orders cannot be directly applied to citizens. But he did it anyway after congress passed an unconstitutional law, the Gold Reserve Act of 1934, that gave FDR dictatorial power. Like sheep, the American people complied.
The story of the "other day of infamy" of FDR has been posted at Money Metals Exchange.
It begins with:
Ninety years ago, Franklin Roosevelt told Americans they had less than a month to hand over their gold or face up to ten years in prison.
December 7, 1941 will forever be remembered as, in the words of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, "a date that will live in infamy." Another infamous date is April 5, 1933—the day that FDR ordered the seizure of the private gold holdings of the American people.
By attacking innocent citizens, Roosevelt bombed the country's gold standard just as surely as Japan bombed Pearl Harbor.
On this 90th anniversary of the seizure, it behooves us to recall the details of it, for multiple reasons: It ranks as one of the most notorious abuses of power in a decade when there were almost too many to count.
It's an example of bad policy imposed on the guiltless by the government that created the conditions it used to justify it. And the very fact of compliance, however minimal, is a scary testimony to how fragile freedom is in the middle of a crisis.
Suddenly on April 5, 1933, FDR told Americans—in the form of Executive Order 6102—that they had less than a month to hand over their gold coins, bullion and gold certificates or face up to ten years in prison or a fine of $10,000, or both.
To read more, go here.
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