On August 15, 1971, President Richard Nixon delivered a televised address announcing a set of economic measures that included the suspension of the dollar’s convertibility into gold for international payments. The step—often summarized as the end of the gold standard—was taken amid rising inflation, persistent U.S. balance-of-payments deficits, a growing outflow of gold, and increasing strains on the postwar Bretton Woods system, which had linked major currencies to the dollar and the dollar to gold at $35 per ounce. Background After World War II, the United States and its allies established the Bretton Woods system (1944), under which the U.S. dollar served as the principal reserve currency convertible into gold for foreign governments and central banks. Over the 1950s and 1960s, U.S. spending on the Vietnam War, domestic programs, and expanding global liquidity contributed to balance-of-payments deficits. Foreign holdings of dollars rose, and several countries began to doubt whether the United States could or would redeem large dollar holdings for gold at the fixed rate. As gold reserves declined relative to dollar liabilities, confidence in dollar convertibility weakened. The Nixon administration faced mounting pressure: gold outflows accelerated as foreign central banks converted dollars into gold, and speculation against the dollar increased. By 1971, U.S. policymakers judged that continuing the obligation to convert dollars into gold at a fixed rate was unsustainable without severe domestic economic costs, including restrictive fiscal and monetary measures that could provoke recession. The Announcement and Immediate Measures In a broadcast from the White House, Nixon announced a broad program he called a "temporary" suspension of gold convertibility. The measures included a 90-day freeze on wages and prices, a temporary import surcharge, and the suspension of the ability of foreign central banks and governments to convert dollars into gold. The administration framed the move as necessary to stop a crisis of confidence and to protect the U.S. economy. Consequences and End of Bretton Woods The August 1971 suspension triggered a period of currency realignment. Negotiations among major economies produced interim agreements, and by 1973 most major currencies had shifted to floating exchange rates. Although the U.S. suspension was described as temporary, the convertibility of dollars into gold for foreign governments was never fully restored. The practical result was the end of the Bretton Woods fixed-exchange-rate regime and the emergence of the modern system of largely floating fiat currencies. Economic historians and policymakers note several consequences: increased exchange-rate flexibility, the need for new monetary coordination mechanisms, and shifts in domestic economic policy autonomy. The end of gold convertibility also contributed to the era of higher inflation in the 1970s—though scholars debate the degree to which the move itself versus other factors (oil shocks, fiscal policy, labor market dynamics) caused subsequent inflationary trends. Historical Interpretation Scholars and participants have disagreed about whether the August 1971 decision was an emergency remedy, a necessary modernization of the international monetary system, or a policy that had foreseeable costs. Primary sources—official statements, central bank records, and contemporary economic data—show it was driven by both immediate pressures and longer-term structural tensions in the postwar monetary order. While some critics at the time decried the end of convertibility as abandoning monetary discipline, others argued it restored policy space for domestic stabilization. Legacy The suspension of dollar convertibility into gold in August 1971 stands as a turning point in 20th-century international finance. It marked the collapse of the Bretton Woods mechanism that had governed exchange rates since World War II and ushered in an era in which national currencies are predominantly fiat and exchange rates are largely determined by market forces, policy decisions, and international capital flows.