FALSE: Nixon declared in 1973 that the US dollar will no longer be backed by gold

At a glance

• Claim: Former US president Richard Nixon declared in 1973 that the US dollar will no longer be backed by gold.
• Rating: FALSE
• The facts: Multiple sources agree that it was during 1971 when Nixon declared that the US dollar’s value will no longer be linked to gold.
• Why we fact-checked this: The claim was made in a YouTube video by the channel “Filipino Future” on April 17, 2021, using the year 1973 to connect it to another claim about the alleged Marcos gold. As of writing, the video has reached 45,416 views. The video can also be found in Facebook pages “Filipino Future” and “Maharlikan atin toh.”

Complete details

On April 17, 2021, the YouTube channel “Filipino Future” posted a video which mentioned that former United States President Richard Nixon declared in 1973 that the US dollar would no longer be backed by gold.

The video says: “Lingid sa kaalaman ng marami, noong taong 1973 rin idineklara ni US President Nixon na aalisin ang gold back sa [unclear] dollar. Mula 1973, ang dollar ay isa nang fiat currency at ito ang dahilan bakit ang salapi ay hindi na nakavalue based sa wealth ng isang bansa.” 

(Unknown to many, it was also in the year 1973 that US President Nixon declared that the gold backing of the dollar would be removed. Since 1973, the dollar has become a fiat currency and this is the reason why money is no longer valued based on a nation’s wealth.)

The claim was made in relation to claims about the alleged wealth of former president Ferdinand Marcos in the form of gold.

The mention of 1973 as the year when Nixon declared that the dollar will no longer be backed by gold is related to statements made earlier in the video, which also mentions 1973: “Ang Liberal Party sa Pilipinas at Democratic Party sa Amerika ay parehong mga galamay ng mga elitistang kumokontrol sa central banking system na sila ring kumokontrol ng mainstream media. Ang grupong ito ay ang tinutukoy ni Imelda Marcos na powerful force na humahadlang para hindi maipamahagi ang ‘Wealth for Humanity’ na sinet-up ni Diaz at Marcos sa World Bank noong 1950 at naging lehitimong property ni Marcos noong 1973.”

(The Liberal Party in the Philippines and the Democratic Party in America are both extensions of the elitists controlling the central banking system, which in turn is controlling the mainstream media. This group is referred to by Imelda Marcos as a powerful force interfering so there will be no distribution of the “Wealth for Humanity”’ that Diaz and Marcos set up in the World Bank in 1950 and became Marcos’ legitimate property in 1973.) 

As of writing, the YouTube video has reached 45,416 views. The video is also found in posts by Facebook pages “Filipino Future” and “Maharlikan atin toh.”

The claim is false.

Multiple sources agree that it was in 1971 when Nixon declared that the US dollar’s value would no longer be linked to gold, not 1973 as claimed in the video. 

In his address to the nation on August 15, 1971, entitled “The Challenge of Peace,” Nixon spoke about a new economic policy for the US. He said: “I have directed Secretary Connally [John Connally, former US Secretary of the Treasury] to suspend temporarily the convertibility of the dollar into gold or other reserve assets, except in amounts and conditions determined to be in the interest of monetary stability and in the best interests of the United States.”

The Federal Reserve History website’s essay “Nixon Ends Convertibility of US Dollars to Gold and Announces Wage/Price Controls” also agrees that Nixon’s decree in 1971 ended the tie-up of the US dollar to gold.

Other sources supporting 1971 as the year when Nixon cut off the link between the value of the US dollar and gold include the article “Gold Standard” by Michael D. Bordo in the Library of Economics and Liberty (Econlib), the Encyclopedia Britannica entry for “Fiat money,” and a guide by the World Gold Council titled “An Investor’s Guide to the Gold Market” (US Edition), which is found in the website of the US Securities and Exchange Commission. 

The YouTube video by “Filipino Future” contains other false claims about the “Marcos gold,” which Rappler has fact-checked before, such as the claim that a Tallano family was supposed to have paid former president Marcos in gold, as well as the claim that a certain Jose Antonio Diaz, said to be Jose Rizal, worked together with Marcos to store wealth in the World Bank. 

Rappler has fact-checked “Filipino Future” and “Maharlikan atin toh” multiple times in the past. – Percival Bueser/Rappler.com

This article was written by a volunteer of Rappler’s fact-checking mentorship program, a 5-week exclusive and hands-on training on detecting, investigating, and verifying online misinformation and disinformation.

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