As mentioned previously, last week was the 51st anniversary of the “closing of the gold window” by Nixon. He did this because the Federal Reserve had devalued the dollar and the gold that it represented was now worth more than the $35 dollars that was promised at Bretton Woods in 1944/1945. So some smart European nations started exchanging their US dollars for gold and Nixon closed the gold window to prevent the draining of physical gold stocks by “speculators.”
This article lays out some of the additional history since the early 20th century and points out that our decreased standard of living is the result.
https://mises.org/wire/money-does-matter-end-gold-standard-led-lower-standard-living