summarise :
other than it could be exchanged for gold, which was the real money. At the time, the United States was spending
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a lot more money than it was earning by writing a lot more of these paper money checks
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than it had gold in the bank to exchange for them. As people turned these checks into the bank for gold money,
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the amount of gold in the US started to dwindle. It soon became obvious
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that the US couldn't keep its promises for all the existing paper money, so people holding dollars rushed to exchange them
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before the gold ran out. Recognizing that the US was going to run out of real money,
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on Sunday evening, August 15th, President NAME_1 went on television to tell the world
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that the US was breaking its promise to let people exchange their dollars for gold.
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Of course, he didn't say it that way. He said it more diplomatically, without making it clear
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that the United States was defaulting. - [President NAME_1] The strength of a nation's currency is based on the strength of that nation's economy.
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And the American economy is by far the strongest in the world. Accordingly, I have directed the secretary of the treasury
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to take the action necessary to defend the dollar against the speculators.
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I have directed Secretary NAME_2 to suspend temporarily the convertibility of the dollar into gold
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or other reserve assets, except in amounts and conditions determined to be in the interest of monetary stability
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and in the best interest of the United Stat