referred to as the “Nixon shock,” rocked the world economy. Nixon’s plan would be a success — in the short term. The Dow Jones industrial average would rise a record 32.93 points the day ...

This initiative was not the handiwork of left-wing liberals but of the administration of Richard Nixon, a moderately conservative Republican who was a critic of government intervention in the economy.

It has been more than 50 years since the Nixon shock — August 15, 1971, when President Nixon went on national television to announce the historic change that the U.S. dollar would no longer be pegged ...