The Forbidden Metal

"The Forbidden Metal – The year the US government seized everyone's gold" investigates Executive Order 6102. In 1933, in the depths of the Great Depression, President Franklin D. Roosevelt made it a crime for US citizens to own monetary gold. Americans were forced to turn in their gold coins and bullion to the Federal Reserve in exchange for paper money, or face ten years in prison. Historian Franklin Cole details the logic behind the seizure: People were hoarding gold, which stalled the money supply and deepened the depression. By confiscating it, the government could devalue the dollar and inflate the economy. "The Forbidden Metal" explores the tension between economic necessity and property rights. It is a reminder that the money in your pocket is a tool of the state, and that even the ultimate "store of value" can be taken away with the stroke of a pen.