5. The removal of the gold standard
In his early days in office Roosevelt used the power of executive orders and leverage in Congress to remove the United States from the gold standard. He issued orders which forbade the exportation of gold by anyone except those who held a license issued by the Treasury of the United States. In 1933 gold coins were still in circulation in the United States, and during the panicked early days of the Great Depression many hoarded them, as people have hoarded gold in times of crisis throughout history. Roosevelt ordered that gold coins would no longer be considered legal tender in private transactions. All gold coins were thus valueless except when turning them into the government, when they were honored at face value.
The measures taken by Roosevelt were reinforced the following year with the Gold Reserve Act of 1934. Removing the gold standard allowed the Federal Reserve System to release more money into the money supply without having to maintain gold reserves equal to the amount of dollars in circulation. This action led to the decline in prices slowing, and eventually reversing, increasing the value of products accordingly. Increases in industrial production and in the cost of farm goods began almost immediately, and by 1937 production overall had increased by a factor of 25%. By the 1990s economists had reached a near consensus that the removal of the gold standard was the action which had the greatest individual impact in restoring the American economy and ending the Great Depression.