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FDR's gold order and dollar devaluation (1933–34)
1933–1934· Law or rule
Fact, law or dataA rule, statute, definition or measured number.
In 1933 FDR ordered Americans to sell their gold to the government, then in 1934 raised gold's official price from $20.67 to $35.
See it on the Money & Finance map →How it works
Executive Order 6102 (April 5, 1933) required people to turn in gold coins, bullion and gold certificates at $20.67 an ounce, with exceptions for jewelry, collectors' coins and small amounts. Congress then voided gold-payment clauses in contracts. The Gold Reserve Act of January 1934 moved the gold to the Treasury, and FDR set $35 an ounce, a 41% devaluation in gold terms. The goal: end deflation and expand money. Private gold ownership became legal again on December 31, 1974.
Why it matters
It showed the government could rewrite the gold promise in a crisis. Money growth and recovery followed, and gold became a Treasury asset rather than private money.
Facts, rules and data
The text of Executive Order 6102, the Gold Reserve Act of 1934, and the Supreme Court's 1935 Gold Clause Cases, which largely upheld voiding contract gold clauses.
Debates and risks
How much gold Americans turned in versus hid is unknown; economists still weigh devaluation against other New Deal steps in explaining the 1933–37 recovery.
Connections (2)
▸FDR's gold order and dollar devaluation (1933–34) loosened the US tie to The gold standardFact, law or data
The connection
By taking in private gold and raising its price to $35 an ounce, FDR ended gold coins as everyday money in the US. The dollar stayed tied to gold only for foreign governments and central banks, a halfway house that lasted until 1971.
When and why
Washington, April 1933 to January 1934, by executive order and then the Gold Reserve Act.
How we know
The order and statute texts; Treasury records show the gold moving from the Federal Reserve to the Treasury.
Debates and risks
Economists still weigh how much the break with gold, versus other New Deal policies, drove the 1933–37 recovery.
▸FDR's gold order and dollar devaluation (1933–34) was a response to The 1929 crash and the Great DepressionFact, law or data
The connection
By early 1933 bank runs were draining gold, and gold-standard rules kept the Fed from expanding money. FDR's April order pulled private gold into the Treasury, and the 1934 revaluation from $20.67 to $35 an ounce let the government back more dollars with each ounce. Prices stopped falling once the dollar began sliding in 1933, and recovery took hold.
When and why
Washington, March 1933 to January 1934: the bank holiday, Executive Order 6102 in April, and the Gold Reserve Act.
How we know
The orders and statutes are public, and price data show deflation ending in 1933. Christina Romer's 1992 study credited gold inflows after devaluation, which swelled the money supply, with much of the recovery.
Debates and risks
How much of the 1933–37 recovery came from devaluation and gold inflows versus banking reforms and New Deal spending is still weighed.