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I am not sure how much gold the US had as opposed to other world powers, but Roosevelt suspended the gold standard during the great depression as people were taking out gold like crazy to replace dollars. Thus the link from currency to gold was reduced (and permanently ended by Nixon in the 1970s). Then the second phase of Roosevelt's plan - gold repurchase to purposely devalue the dollar. This was a "reflation" act. The result was not only to bring a higher value to commodities, but also increased our gold reserve. There was a third phase as well, to stabilize the dollar and gold prices. Other countries likewise left the gold standard - UK for instance at about the same time.
However, I do know there was sizeable gold reserves in Europe. Germany was gold poor and that was one of the many reasons they invaded and plundered Europe - to get at these other countries gold reserves. Another point - some of these gold reserves were moved to North America. Poland for instance moved tons of gold, but I think that was to Canada for there safekeeping.
None of that matters to this guys conclusion as, again, the world was moving more and more away from the Gold Standard due to the restraints it imposed on governments.
So likely those gold reserves to North America would have stayed if Germany won - but they didn't trust us to return the gold if the Allies won?
Reviewing my post, perhaps I should have made clear my opinion of the intent behind the statement attributed to Montagu Norman. I believe that the statement is an observation that a neutral United States in 1939 could make money hand-over-fist by selling food, armaments, ammunition, and fuel to the belligerent powers of WW2, while getting paid in European gold, until all of the gold of Europe is in American banks.
Thursday, I've read your original link. I also tracked back to the home page of the site. Current topics include
Liberal Fascism
The CFR Strikes back
The Great Reset
Third Temple and Noahide Laws
Your original source isn't the same caliber as the History Channel or the Smithsonian websites. In fact, it appears to be some sort of White Nationalist/White Supremacist wiki.
Additionally, nothing you have posted actually addressed the question posed in the OP.
Forgive me, but I don't believe that I'll be responding to you from now on.
So if I'm understanding you, the implication is that America would have been selling to the Allies, so that whether the Allies won or lost, America would have profited so greatly that it would, in effect, have all the gold?
So if I'm understanding you, the implication is that America would have been selling to the Allies, so that whether the Allies won or lost, America would have profited so greatly that it would, in effect, have all the gold?
Yes, that was my take on the quote in the original post.
De Gaulle left office in 1969. Nixon's gold standard order was August 1971. I doubt De Gaulle ordered any ship to come ti the US.
got the years wrong..
France sent a battleship to take home French gold from the New York Fed’s vaults.” The French not unreasonably believed that the special status of the dollar gave it an “exorbitant privilege,” making it “monumentally over-privileged.” Already in the 1960s, French President Charles de Gaulle had ordered the Bank of France to increase the amount of payments in gold from the United States.
I'm reading a book about the lead-up to WWII, and I'm puzzled by this sentence:
Montague Norman, the venerable governor of the Bank of England, warned that all Europe was doomed, regardless of who won the war, because all the world's gold would be held by the United States.
Was America holding gold for all the western developed countries or what?
Yes, I remember reading somewhere that several European governments (mostly US allies) actually shipped their gold reserves and other valuable items to the US for safekeeping during WWII. They were afraid that the Nazis would plunder their gold reserves after invading, so the gold would be safer about 3,000 miles across the Atlantic.
I remember reading the the UK sent most of its gold reserves along with the original copy of the Magna Carta to the US for safekeeping. These items were kept at Fort Knox in Kentucky next to America's gold reserve. Everything was returned to Britain, of course, after the war.
Was America holding gold for all the western developed countries or what?
Some, but not all. Britain's gold and securities went to Canada; to Montreal first, to sit in the vaults of the Sun Life Assurance Company; then on to Ottawa. From Wikipedia:
Quote:
During the Second World War, during Operation Fish, Britain's gold reserves and negotiable foreign securities were secretly packed in crates labelled 'Fish' and shipped across the Atlantic Ocean to Canada. The securities, arriving at Halifax on July 1, 1940, were locked in an underground vault three stories beneath the Sun Life Building [in Montreal], guarded around the clock by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The gold was shipped on to Ottawa....
The 5,000 Sun Life employees never knew what was stored away beneath them. None of the cargo went missing and no information about the operation was ever leaked.
Yes, I remember reading somewhere that several European governments (mostly US allies) actually shipped their gold reserves and other valuable items to the US for safekeeping during WWII. They were afraid that the Nazis would plunder their gold reserves after invading, so the gold would be safer about 3,000 miles across the Atlantic.
I remember reading the the UK sent most of its gold reserves along with the original copy of the Magna Carta to the US for safekeeping. These items were kept at Fort Knox in Kentucky next to America's gold reserve. Everything was returned to Britain, of course, after the war.
They were right to worry about Nazi plundering.
I find it very touching that England would send us the Magna Carta for safekeeping. That's a lovely detail.
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