One Nation Under Gold: How One Precious Metal Has Dominated the American Imagination for Four Centuries

by James Ledbetter

Overview

One Nation Under Gold examines the countervailing forces that have long since divided America—whether gold should be a repository of hope, or a damaging delusion that has long since derailed the rational investor.

Worshipped by Tea Party politicians but loathed by sane economists, gold has historically influenced American monetary policy and has exerted an often outsized influence on the national psyche for centuries. Now, acclaimed business writer James Ledbetter explores the tumultuous history and larger-than-life personalities—from George Washington to Richard Nixon—behind America’s volatile relationship to this hallowed metal and investigates what this enduring obsession reveals about the American identity.

Exhaustively researched and expertly woven, One Nation Under Gold begins with the nation’s founding in the 1770s, when the new republic erupted with bitter debates over the implementation of paper currency in lieu of metal coins. Concerned that the colonies’ thirteen separate currencies would only lead to confusion and chaos, some Founding Fathers believed that a national currency would not only unify the fledgling nation but provide a perfect solution for a country that was believed to be lacking in natural silver and gold resources.

Animating the "Wild West" economy of the nineteenth century with searing insights, Ledbetter brings to vivid life the actions of Whig president Andrew Jackson, one of gold’s most passionate advocates, whose vehement protest against a standardized national currency would precipitate the nation’s first feverish gold rush. Even after the establishment of a national paper currency, the virulent political divisions continued, reaching unprecedented heights at the Democratic National Convention in 1896, when presidential aspirant William Jennings Bryan delivered the legendary "Cross of Gold" speech that electrified an entire convention floor, stoking the fears of his agrarian supporters.

While Bryan never amassed a wide-enough constituency to propel his cause into the White House, America’s stubborn attachment to gold persisted, wreaking so much havoc that FDR, in order to help rescue the moribund Depression economy, ordered a ban on private ownership of gold in 1933. In fact, so entrenched was the belief that gold should uphold the almighty dollar, it was not until 1973 that Richard Nixon ordered that the dollar be delinked from any relation to gold—completely overhauling international economic policy and cementing the dollar’s global significance. More intriguing is the fact that America’s exuberant fascination with gold has continued long after Nixon’s historic decree, as in the profusion of late-night television ads that appeal to goldbug speculators that proliferate even into the present.

One Nation Under Gold reveals as much about American economic history as it does about the sectional divisions that continue to cleave our nation, ultimately becoming a unique history about economic irrationality and its influence on the American psyche.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781631493966
Publisher:	Liveright Publishing Corporation
Publication date:	06/13/2017
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	384
Sales rank:	1,012,681
File size:	10 MB

About the Author

James Ledbetter is the editor of Inc. magazine and the author or editor of five previous books. His writing on business and politics has appeared in The New Yorker, the Nation, the New York Times, and many other publications.

Table of Contents

Time Line of Events xi

Preface xv

Introduction 1

Chapter 1 El Dorado Comes True 11

Chapter 2 A Crash, a Clash, and a "Crime" 37

Chapter 3 The Dangers of the Yellow Brick Road 63

Chapter 4 FDR Bids Good-bye to Gold 87

Chapter 5 The Arsenal of Gold 111

Chapter 6 Out of Balance 141

Chapter 7 Operation Goldfinger 167

Chapter 8 Dueling Apocalypses 195

Chapter 9 This Time for Real 227

Chapter 10 Legal at Last 255

Chapter 11 Goldbugs in Power 283

Chapter 12 God, Gold, and Guns 311

Acknowledgments 339

Notes 341

Index 371

Editorial Reviews

03/13/2017
In this economic history, Ledbetter (Unwarranted Influence), editor at Inc. magazine, traces the complicated relationship between gold and American monetary policy, examining our reliance on the metal alongside our frequent attempts to sever that dependence. As Ledbetter explores and explains the waxing and waning of the gold standard, he shows how it affects America’s ties to the world economy, how it has influenced events in war and peacetime, and how private ownership of gold has been a quagmire of controversy and opportunism. Ledbetter notes that “for much of America’s history, gold literally was money—and therefore ignited some of the most contentious political battles the nation has ever seen.” However, his own expertise in the material doesn’t necessarily translate to accessibility; this is an excellent book for those well-versed in economic topics, but less useful for the casual reader. Ledbetter hews closely to the financial aspects of gold as an influence on the country’s progress, though he does touch upon some of the cultural, technological, and artistic roles it has played—such as the fate of the Golden Rooster of Las Vegas—which makes for some entertaining diversions. Ledbetter’s style is a little dry, but this is a solid look at America’s golden history. (May)

Publishers Weekly

"What an original, imaginative book! Bristling with ideas, this lucid history reveals the economic, cultural, and political dimensions of gold’s role in the American experience. So doing, it illuminates, informs, and provokes."

Ira Katznelson

"A surprisingly readable history of U.S. fiscal policy. Starting with America’s earliest currencies . . . the book traces the chaotic end of the gold standard and dissects our modern obsession with trying to bring it back . . . . [Ledbetter’s] measured, persuasive conclusion after surveying two centuries of haphazard fiscal decision making is that a return to a gold standard would be a deeply bad idea. Consider this a must read for the gold bugs in your life"

Fortune - Anne VanderMey

"I learned an interesting new fact on nearly every page of One Nation Under Gold, but I also learned more than facts: James Ledbetter shows us how men have been transfixed by this metal and the folly that has resulted from that obsession. A gripping story, and a history that has had far more influence over policy in the United States than you might think."

Michael Tomasky

"[A] chronicle of the American people’s fascination with gold. . . . [Ledbetter’s] well-spun narrative spans the better part of four centuries."

Wall Street Journal - James Grant

"The material on the gold crisis of the 1960s is really superb—without question the best treatment I have seen of this issue. This was the issue Johnson faced, combined with Vietnam and racial backlash."

Julian Zelizer

"[This] is the first book to really make sense of the tumultuous and entertaining history of Americans’ obsession with gold, brilliantly illuminating how our fascination with the precious metal has shaped our national psyche, sparked political turmoil, and exerted a powerful and often malignant influence on economic policy."

James Surowiecki

"The book is wildly entertaining as well as informative. …Ledbetter is a first-rate reporter with a nose for unearthing great stories. He delivers great and often outré stories in abundance…Ledbetter has written a delightful book, one that succeeds in capturing, among other things, much of the loopiness that has undeservedly tarnished the reputation of the true gold standard."

Ralph Benko

"Everyone is familiar with gold but few know of its complex history—until now, thanks to James Ledbetter’s skillful storytelling."

Joseph E. Stiglitz

Gold has glittered in the eyes of Americans—including policy makers—since the Carolina gold rush in the nation's early days. Jonathan Yen's narration carries a bit of that fever, sharing the excitement of gold seekers in California as well as the fervor of political discussion. His voice effectively evokes figures such as John F. Kennedy, Jr., and Richard Nixon. The author tracks down every trace of gold in U.S. history, much like Operation Goldfinger probed seawater and meteorites. There's a lot of policy explanation, including a forty-year ban on gold in private hands. Ledbetter also shares a few cautionary tales for would-be gold investors. Overall, Ledbetter gives listeners a sense of gold's importance to the United States, both historically and in the present. J.A.S. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine

OCTOBER 2017 - AudioFile

2017-04-04
Is the dollar as good as gold? Not for a long time, writes Inc. editor Ledbetter (Unwarranted Influence: Dwight D. Eisenhower and the Military-Industrial Complex, 2011, etc.), and therein hangs a tale.As the author notes, gold finds in Americans "a psychological wellspring that reaches beyond any purely physical qualities." Monetary gold, however, is more complicated: gold mania may be one thing, but a modern economy is better based on more abundant materials. Still, arguments for the gold standard, which was finally abandoned during Richard Nixon's second term, have been constant throughout American history. Ledbetter has a knack for finding the most interesting, if sometimes-obscure, pleas for gold, many offered by government officials. In the early Republic, one argued strenuously against paper currency, saying "there would be no end to the legion of paper devils which shall pour forth from the loins of the Secretary." In later times, the father of the multibillionaire Warren Buffett, a Nebraska congressman, urged that the Bretton Woods monetary agreements would weaken American sovereignty—which was being betrayed, he added, by Dwight Eisenhower, earning Buffett a reputation as "a bedrock reactionary who shot off his mouth once too often," as columnist Drew Pearson said. Arguments for and against the gold standard have as often been politically as economically grounded, and Ledbetter's book is a touch short on the actual mechanics of gold and its convertibility while satisfyingly long on the sharp political divisions that have formed around it. Now that individual Americans are allowed to own gold—a right, one Swiss-born commentator gloomily warns, that can be taken away at any time—it has returned to popularity. Meanwhile, politicians on the right, including Ted Cruz and Donald Trump, have either outright endorsed a return to the gold standard or confessed to a liking for the sound of it. An absorbing and often entertaining look at precious metal and its place—or lack thereof—in our wallets.

Kirkus Reviews