There were two main direct assaults on the gold standard by the American government: the first on the watch of a Democratic president, Franklin D. Roosevelt, when the U.S. defaulted on its domestic gold obligations in 1933; the second on the watch of a Republican president, Richard Nixon, when the U.S. defaulted on its international gold obligations in 1971.
In each case, the gold standard struck back. Uncannily, in each case there was a lag of 36 years, signifying the fact that it takes that long for a new generation to acquiesce in the slogan two legs bad, four legs good! as in George Orwells Animal Farm, a parody of the Soviet Union and the Bolshevik revolution. It will be recalled that the pigs have overthrown the farmer and took over the farm, trying to run it under this revolutionary slogan..