Executive Order 6102

Executive Order 6102

Forbidding the Hoarding of Gold Coin, Gold Bullion and Gold Certificates
Saint Gaudens Double Eagle
Executive Order 6102
Type	Executive order
Executive Order number	6102
Signed by	Franklin D. Roosevelt on 5 April 1933
Summary
Forbade ownership of quantities of gold coin, bullion, and gold certificates worth in excess of $100 (about 5 troy ounces), with exemptions for specific uses and collections; Required all persons to deliver excess quantities of the above on or before May 1, 1933 in exchange for $20.67 per troy ounce; Enabled Federal funding of Exchange Stabilization Fund using profit realized from international transactions against new Federal reserves.

Executive Order 6102 is an executive order signed on April 5, 1933, by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt "forbidding the hoarding of gold coin, gold bullion, and gold certificates within the continental United States." The executive order was made under the authority of the Trading with the Enemy Act of 1917, as amended by the Emergency Banking Act in March 1933.

The limitation on gold ownership in the United States was repealed after President Gerald Ford signed a bill legalizing private ownership of gold coins, bars, and certificates by an Act of Congress, codified in Pub. L.Tooltip Public Law (United States) 93–373,^[1] which went into effect December 31, 1974.

At the time, this policy faced criticism from those who asserted it was “completely immoral” and “a flagrant violation of the solemn promises made in the Gold Standard Act of 1900” and promises made to purchasers of Liberty and Victory Loans during World War I.^[2] The critics also claimed this Executive Order would lead to an inflation of supply of credit and currency, which would cause a fraudulent economic boom which would inevitably bust and result in a depression.^[3]