The 'Nixon Shock' and the end of the Gold Sta...

During the Vietnam War, North Vietnamese VietCong guerrillas built a vast network of tunnels in the south of the country as part of the insurgency against the South Vietnamese government and their American allies. The tunnel network was a key base and shelter for the North Vietna ...  Show more

In 1943, the cellist, Anita Lasker-Wallfisch was sent to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. She expected to be killed in the gas chambers but survived because she was recruited to play in an orchestra set up by the women prisoners. In 2015, Anita Lasker-Wallfisch told Sim ...  Show more

A compilation of witness accounts from when inflation and the cost of living were seriously affecting people's lives, among other topics.

In 1971, inflation was a huge problem in the USA so the President, Richard Nixon, made one of the most drastic moves in economic hist ...

In 1971, President Richard Nixon, without the approval of Congress, took the U.S. dollar off the gold standard and changed the rules of money—not just for the United States, but also for the world. Today’s guests discuss how this change allowed the United States to print almost u ...  Show more

On 8 August 1974 Richard Nixon became the first US president in history to resign from office, following the Watergate scandal. Witness has been speaking to journalist Tom DeFrank, who watched the drama unfold minute by minute.Photo: Nixon announces his resignation on national te ...  Show more

April 18, 1933. It’s almost midnight in Washington, DC. Newly-elected President Franklin Delano Roosevelt has gathered his economic advisors for a late-night meeting. He called this meeting to announce his plan to effectively take the US off the gold standard, the system by which ...  Show more