Smithsonian Channel

Like everyone else in the country, I’ve been spending a lot of time over the past few days watching the financial news channels and reading their websites. More than a few reporters have made reference to the Great Depression and the myriad of bank failures in those dark days. One specifically was talking about how the high demand for gold coins today demonstrates the low level of confidence investors have in the market right now.

Image Pot of Gold uploaded to Flickr by tao zhyn

A soon-to-be-released Smithsonian Channel production entitled Hunt for the Double Eagle (a film about the fascinating history of the gold Double Eagle coins) talks about the first days of FDR’s administration and the role gold played in that financial crisis. In the first few days of his administration FDR took some drastic (and risky) steps to calm the jittery nerves of Americans and stop a run on banks. One of those was a call for the return of gold to the nation’s banks.

A month later on April 5^th, the President signed Executive Order 6102 which called for the paid confiscation of all privately held gold coins and bullion in the United States, effectively making it illegal to hold gold. Owning gold coins remained illegal for 41 years until December 31, 1974 when President Gerald Ford signed legislation lifting the ban.