As far as a devastating press conference I would think it would have been when Nixon in 1971 closed the gold window. 50 yrs this month and the affects are hurting every person still today with the high inflation caused by going off the gold standards and letting governments print money at will. And with the nut and the slut passing more huge spending packages as of late thus the need to print more money the dollars in your wallet lose more value. You know the dollar since 1980 has lost 85 % of its value against gold and since 1913 it has lost 98%of its value. Read Venezuela, Zimbabwe and others history when the currency goes to zero as all flat currencies in history have