Get post Greaser10. Being a student of the Great Depression myself, along with Ben Bernanke, I would like to clarify a few points...

1) The Emergency Banking Act of 1933 authorized the president to regulate or prohibit the export or hoarding of gold and silver and empowered the Secretary of the Treasury to require the surrender of all gold held by the public. Most people thought this was only temporary.

2) On April 5, 1934, Roosevelt acting under the authority of Trading with the Enemy Act of 1917, the Emergency Banking Act of 1933 and Gold Reserve Act of 1934, issued an executive order that all persons deliver their gold to the Federal Reserve.

3) On May 12, 1934, the the new price for gold was set @ $35.00 an oz, from the old price of $20.67 an oz. The increase in the gold price actually gave the Exchange Stabilization Fund, set up under the Gold Reserve Act, 2 to 3 Billion dollars to deal in government securities.

4) In general terms, the whole idea was to create inflation, as the terrible deflation that was occurring, was causing the Great Depression.

Kherson