United States Bullion Depository
Encyclopedia
Bank vault
A bank vault is a secure space where money, valuables, records, and documents can be stored. It is intended to protect their contents from theft, unauthorized use, fire, natural disasters, and other threats, just like a safe...
building located adjacent to Fort Knox
Fort Knox
Fort Knox is a United States Army post in Kentucky south of Louisville and north of Elizabethtown. The base covers parts of Bullitt, Hardin, and Meade counties. It currently holds the Army Human Resources Center of Excellence to include the Army Human Resources Command, United States Army Cadet...
, Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
, used to store a large portion of United States official gold reserves
Official gold reserves
A gold reserve is the gold held by a central bank or nation intended as a store of value and as a guarantee to redeem promises to pay depositors, note holders , or trading peers, or to secure a currency....
and occasionally other precious items belonging or entrusted to the federal government
Federal government of the United States
The federal government of the United States is the national government of the constitutional republic of fifty states that is the United States of America. The federal government comprises three distinct branches of government: a legislative, an executive and a judiciary. These branches and...
.
The United States Bullion Depository holds 4,577 metric tons (5046 tons) of gold bullion (147.2 million oz. troy). This is roughly 2.5% of all the gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
ever refined throughout human history. Even so, the depository is second in the United States to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York
Federal Reserve Bank of New York
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York is one of the 12 Federal Reserve Banks of the United States. It is located at 33 Liberty Street, New York, NY. It is responsible for the Second District of the Federal Reserve System, which encompasses New York state, the 12 northern counties of New Jersey,...
's underground vault in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
, which holds 7,000 metric tons (7716 tons) of gold bullion (225.1 million oz. troy), some of it in trust for foreign nations, central banks and official international organizations.
History
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
issued Executive Order 6102
Executive Order 6102
Executive Order 6102 is an Executive Order signed on April 5, 1933, by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt "forbidding the Hoarding of Gold Coin, Gold Bullion, and Gold Certificates within the continental United States"...
, which outlawed the private ownership of gold coins, gold bullion, and gold certificate
Gold certificate
A gold certificate in general is a certificate of ownership that gold owners hold instead of storing the actual gold. It has both a historic meaning as a US paper currency and a current meaning as a way to invest in gold....
s by American citizens, forcing them to sell these to the Federal Reserve. As a result, the value of the gold held by the Federal Reserve increased from $4 billion to $12 billion between 1933 and 1937. This left the federal government
Federal government of the United States
The federal government of the United States is the national government of the constitutional republic of fifty states that is the United States of America. The federal government comprises three distinct branches of government: a legislative, an executive and a judiciary. These branches and...
with a large gold reserve and no place to store it. In 1936, the U.S. Treasury Department
United States Department of the Treasury
The Department of the Treasury is an executive department and the treasury of the United States federal government. It was established by an Act of Congress in 1789 to manage government revenue...
began construction of the United States Bullion Depository at Fort Knox, Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
, on land transferred from the military
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
. The Gold Vault was completed in December 1936 for US $560,000, or $8.5 million in 2009 dollars. The site is located on what is now Bullion Boulevard at the intersection of Gold Vault Road.
The first gold shipments were made from January to July 1937. The majority of the United States' gold reserves
Official gold reserves
A gold reserve is the gold held by a central bank or nation intended as a store of value and as a guarantee to redeem promises to pay depositors, note holders , or trading peers, or to secure a currency....
were gradually shipped to the site, including old bullion and newly made bars made from melted gold coins. Some intact coins were stored. The transfer used 500 rail cars and was sent by registered mail, protected by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service
United States Postal Inspection Service
The United States Postal Inspection Service is the law enforcement arm of the United States Postal Service. Its jurisdiction is defined as "crimes that may adversely affect or fraudulently use the U.S...
.
During World War II, the repository held the original U.S. Declaration of Independence
United States Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence was a statement adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, which announced that the thirteen American colonies then at war with Great Britain regarded themselves as independent states, and no longer a part of the British Empire. John Adams put forth a...
and U.S. Constitution
United States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It is the framework for the organization of the United States government and for the relationship of the federal government with the states, citizens, and all people within the United States.The first three...
. It held the reserves of European countries and key documents from Western history; for example, it held the Crown of St. Stephen
Crown of St. Stephen
The Holy Crown of Hungary , also known as the Crown of Saint Stephen, was the coronation crown used by the Kingdom of Hungary for most of its existence.The Crown was bound to the Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen, The Holy Crown of Hungary (Hungarian: Magyar Szent Korona, German: Stephanskrone,...
, part of the Hungarian crown jewels, given to American soldiers to prevent them from falling into Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
hands. The repository held one of four copies (exemplifications) of the Magna Carta
Magna Carta
Magna Carta is an English charter, originally issued in the year 1215 and reissued later in the 13th century in modified versions, which included the most direct challenges to the monarch's authority to date. The charter first passed into law in 1225...
, which had been sent for display at the 1939 New York World's Fair
1939 New York World's Fair
The 1939–40 New York World's Fair, which covered the of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park , was the second largest American world's fair of all time, exceeded only by St. Louis's Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904. Many countries around the world participated in it, and over 44 million people...
, and which, when war broke out, was kept in America for the duration.
During World War II and into the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
, until the invention of synthetic painkillers, a supply of processed morphine and opium was kept in the Depository as a hedge against the United States being cut off from the sources of supply of raw opium.
Construction and security
Below the fortress-like structure lies the gold vaultBank vault
A bank vault is a secure space where money, valuables, records, and documents can be stored. It is intended to protect their contents from theft, unauthorized use, fire, natural disasters, and other threats, just like a safe...
lined with granite
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
walls and protected by a blast-proof door weighing 22 tons. No single person is entrusted with the entire combination to the vault. Several members of the Depository staff must dial separate combinations known only to them. Beyond the main vault door, smaller compartments provide further protection. According to a Mosler Safe Company
Mosler Safe Company
The Mosler Safe Company was a manufacturer of security equipment, most notably safes and bank vaults, beginning in 1867 and ending with its bankruptcy in 2001....
brochure:
"The most famous, if not the largest, vault door order came from the Federal government in 1935 for the newly-constructed gold depository at Fort Knox, Kentucky. Both the vault door and emergency door were 21-inches thick and made of the latest torch- and drill-resistant material. The main vault door weighed 20 tons and the vault casing was 25-inches thick."
The facility is ringed with fences and is guarded by the United States Mint Police
United States Mint Police
The United States Mint Police is one of the oldest federal law enforcement agencies in the United States. It is responsible for the protection of the United States Treasury and the United States Mint.-Official duties:...
. The Depository premises are within the site of Fort Knox, a United States Army post, allowing the Army to provide additional protection. The Depository is protected by layers of physical security, alarms, video cameras, armed guards, and the Army units based at Fort Knox, including Apache
AH-64 Apache
The Boeing AH-64 Apache is a four-blade, twin-engine attack helicopter with a tailwheel-type landing gear arrangement, and a tandem cockpit for a two-man crew. The Apache was developed as Model 77 by Hughes Helicopters for the United States Army's Advanced Attack Helicopter program to replace the...
helicopter gunships of 8/229 Aviation based at Godman Army Airfield
Godman Army Airfield
Godman Army Airfield is a military airport located on the Fort Knox United States Army post in Hardin County, Kentucky, United States. It has four runways and is used entirely by the United States Army Aviation Branch.-History:...
, the 16th Cavalry Regiment
16th Cavalry Regiment (United States)
The 16th Cavalry Regiment is a Regiment of the United States Army first established in 1916.-Lineage:Constituted 1 July 1916 in the Regular Army as the 16th Cavalry and organized at Fort Sam Houston, Texas...
, the 19th Engineer Battalion, formerly training battalions of the United States Army Armor School
United States Army Armor School
The United States Army Armor School is a training school located at Fort Benning. Its primary focus is the training of United States Army soldiers, NCOs, and commissioned officers in the operation, tactics, and maintenance of Armor forces and equipment, including the M1 Abrams main battle tank, the...
, and the 3rd Brigade Combat Team
3rd Brigade Combat Team
3rd Brigade Combat Team or 3 BCT is a modularized brigade of the United States Army. It may refer to:* 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division * 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division...
of the 1st Infantry Division, totaling 30,000 soldiers, with associated tanks, armored personnel carriers, attack helicopters, and artillery.
There is an escape tunnel from the lower level of the vault to be used by someone accidentally locked in.
Since the opening of the depository, the Federal government has disclosed very little information about the security systems and technologies used. What is generally known about the security systems at the Gold Depository mostly dates from the late 1930s. For example, the small turret-like structures at the corners of the building are firing positions for guards with Thompson submachine gun
Thompson submachine gun
The Thompson is an American submachine gun, invented by John T. Thompson in 1919, that became infamous during the Prohibition era. It was a common sight in the media of the time, being used by both law enforcement officers and criminals...
s, the standard longarm of the Mint Police when the Depository was built. It is rumored that everything from minefields, to ground-sweeping radars, to body capacitance wires, to automated machine guns triggered by interrupting laser beams are emplaced to guard the building and its approaches. It is rumored that, like the French national bank in Paris, the vaults can be filled with water. The Federal government will neither confirm nor deny the rumors. Employees are sworn to secrecy and cannot divulge information about the vault's security.
For security reasons, no visitors are allowed inside the depository grounds. This policy has been enforced ever since the vault opened and the only exception was an inspection by members of the United States Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
and the news media
News media
The news media are those elements of the mass media that focus on delivering news to the general public or a target public.These include print media , broadcast news , and more recently the Internet .-Etymology:A medium is a carrier of something...
on September 23, 1974 led by then Director of the United States Mint
Director of the United States Mint
The Director of the United States Mint is the head of the United States Mint. The position is currently vacant following the resignation of Edmund C. Moy in January 2011....
Mary Brooks
Mary Brooks
Mary Elizabeth Thomas Peavey Brooks directed the United States Mint from September 1969 to February 1977.Brooks was appointed by President Richard M. Nixon, the third woman named to the post...
.
Gold and coin holdings
Gold holdings peaked during World War II at 20,205 metric tons (649.6 million oz. troy). Today, holdings are 4,578 metric tons (147.2 million oz. troy ) in 368,000 standard, 400 oz. troyTroy ounce
The troy ounce is a unit of imperial measure. In the present day it is most commonly used to gauge the weight of precious metals. One troy ounce is nowadays defined as exactly 0.0311034768 kg = 31.1034768 g. There are approximately 32.1507466 troy oz in 1 kg...
(12.4 kg or 27.4 lb avoirdupois) gold bars. At August 22, 2011 rates of $1890.04 an ounce
it is worth $278.3 billion, while the World War II total of 649.6 million oz. troy would be worth $909 billion. The depository also holds monetary gold coins. The 1933 Double Eagle
1933 Double Eagle
The 1933 double eagle currently holds the record for the highest price paid at auction for a single U.S. coin when it was purchased for US$7.59 million...
was also a temporary resident after transfer from 7 World Trade Center
7 World Trade Center
7 World Trade Center is a building in New York City located across from the World Trade Center site in Lower Manhattan. It is the second building to bear that name and address in that location. The original structure was completed in 1987 and was destroyed in the September 11 attacks...
in July 2001, until its sale in July 2002 for $7.59 million. Sometime in 2004, 10 additional allegedly stolen 1933 Double Eagles were transported to Fort Knox for safekeeping.
Not all the gold bars held in the depository are of exactly the same composition. The mint gold bars are nearly pure gold. Bars made from melted gold coins, however, called "coin bars", are the same composition as the original coins, which is only 90% gold. Unlike many .999 fine gold bullion coin
Bullion coin
A bullion coin is a coin struck from precious metal and kept as a store of value or an investment, rather than used in day-to-day commerce. Investment coins are generally coins that have been minted after 1800, have a purity of not less than 900 thousandths and are or have been a legal tender in...
s minted in modern times for holding-purposes today, the coin alloy for pre-1933 U.S. coins, which were intended for circulation, was a much tougher and wear-resistant .900 fine alloy (balance copper) used for all U.S. gold coins since 1837. (See crown gold
Crown gold
Crown gold is a 22 karat gold alloy, introduced in England for gold crown coin manufacture in 1526 . It is 22/24 = 0.91667 fine or 91.667% gold....
for further gold coin alloy history).
All of the gold in the depository, if pure, could form a cube 20.3 feet (6.19 m) on a side—a volume of 237 m³. In comparison, all the gold ever refined in history (an estimated 165,000 tonnes) is about 40 times greater, so the facility alone holds about 2.5% of all gold ever refined.
The United States holds more gold bullion than any other country, with about 2.39 times that of the next leading country, Germany.
Popular culture
The bullion depository has become a symbol of an impregnable vault, leading to phrases such as "locked up tighter than Fort Knox" or "safer than Fort Knox". Many businesses in the surrounding areas are references to the bullion depository.Cinema
- The 19371937 in filmThe year 1937 in film involved some significant events, including the Walt Disney production of the first full-length animated film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.- Events :*April 16 - Way Out West premieres in the US....
RKO Lee TracyLee TracyWilliam Lee Tracy was an American actor.- Early life :Tracy was born in Atlanta, Georgia.After graduating from Western Military Academy in 1918 he studied electrical engineering at Union College, and then served as a 2nd lieutenant in World War I. In the early 1920s he decided to work as an actor...
film Behind the Headlines climaxes in a plan to steal gold bars en route from Washington, D.C. to Fort Knox. - The 19511951 in filmThe year 1951 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* Sweden - May Britt is scouted by Italian film-makers Carlo Ponti and Mario Soldati-Top grossing films : After theatrical re-issue- Awards :Academy Awards:...
Bud AbbottBud AbbottWilliam Alexander "Bud" Abbott was an American actor, producer and comedian. He is best remembered as the straight man of the comedy team of Abbott and Costello, with Lou Costello.-Early life:...
& Lou CostelloLou CostelloLouis Francis "Lou" Costello was an American actor and comedian best known as half of the comedy team of Abbott and Costello, with Bud Abbott...
film Comin' Round the MountainComin' Round the MountainComin' Round The Mountain is a 1951 film starring the comedy team of Abbott and Costello.-Plot:Theatrical agent Al Stewart has successfully booked his client, Dorothy McCoy , "The Manhattan Hillbilly", at a New York nightclub. Unfortunately, he has also booked an inept escape artist, The Great...
has the twoAbbott and CostelloWilliam "Bud" Abbott and Lou Costello performed together as Abbott and Costello, an American comedy duo whose work on stage, radio, film and television made them the most popular comedy team during the 1940s and 1950s...
using a treasure map to find a stash of gold. When they finally reach the gold at the end of the film, they find themselves in the middle of Fort Knox and are immediately arrested. - The 19511951 in filmThe year 1951 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* Sweden - May Britt is scouted by Italian film-makers Carlo Ponti and Mario Soldati-Top grossing films : After theatrical re-issue- Awards :Academy Awards:...
Warner Bros.Warner Bros.Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
short 14 Carrot Rabbit14 Carrot Rabbit14 Carrot Rabbit is a 1951 animated cartoon short in the Looney Tunes series featuring Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam, directed by Friz Freleng and first released March 15, 1952...
featuring Bugs BunnyBugs BunnyBugs Bunny is a animated character created in 1938 at Leon Schlesinger Productions, later Warner Bros. Cartoons. Bugs is an anthropomorphic gray rabbit and is famous for his flippant, insouciant personality and his portrayal as a trickster. He has primarily appeared in animated cartoons, most...
and Yosemite SamYosemite SamYosemite Sam is an American animated cartoon character in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons produced by Warner Bros. Animation. The name is somewhat alliterative and is inspired by Yosemite National Park...
follows a similar routine, with Sam being led away by guards at the end. Bugs is also under suspicion, but slips away on a large boat. - The popular 19591959 in filmThe year 1959 in film involved some significant events, with Ben-Hur winning a record 11 Academy Awards.-Events:* The Three Stooges make their 190th and last short film, Sappy Bull Fighters....
Ian FlemingIan FlemingIan Lancaster Fleming was a British author, journalist and Naval Intelligence Officer.Fleming is best known for creating the fictional British spy James Bond and for a series of twelve novels and nine short stories about the character, one of the biggest-selling series of fictional books of...
-written James BondJames BondJames Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
novel Goldfinger, and the 1964 movie of the same nameGoldfinger (film)Goldfinger is the third spy film in the James Bond series and the third to star Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. Released in 1964, it is based on the novel of the same name by Ian Fleming. The film also stars Honor Blackman as Bond girl Pussy Galore and Gert Fröbe as the title...
, are about a criminal plot called "Operation Grand Slam" to break into the U.S. Bullion Depository. In the book, Auric GoldfingerAuric GoldfingerAuric Goldfinger is a fictional character and the main antagonist in the James Bond film and novel Goldfinger. His first name, Auric, is an adjective meaning of gold...
's plan is to steal the gold. In the movie, the audience is initially led to believe Goldfinger is going to steal the gold, but the real plot is to render the gold contained in the Depository radioactive and useless with a nuclear device, crippling the economy and driving up the price of the gold Goldfinger already has. The movie was set before the U.S. dollarUnited States dollarThe United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
ceased to be backed by goldGold standardThe gold standard is a monetary system in which the standard economic unit of account is a fixed mass of gold. There are distinct kinds of gold standard...
in 1971. - The facility is referenced in the 19951995 in film-Top grossing films:-Events:* March 22 - The Dogme 95 movement is officially announced in Paris by Danish directors Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg.* March 28 - Actress Julia Roberts and singer Lyle Lovett announce their plans for separation....
film Die Hard with a Vengeance as "for tourists" compared to the target of the film—the Federal Reserve Bank of New YorkFederal Reserve Bank of New YorkThe Federal Reserve Bank of New York is one of the 12 Federal Reserve Banks of the United States. It is located at 33 Liberty Street, New York, NY. It is responsible for the Second District of the Federal Reserve System, which encompasses New York state, the 12 northern counties of New Jersey,...
, which they claim holds "ten times what's in KentuckyKentuckyThe Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
". - In the 2000 film Battlefield EarthBattlefield Earth (film)Battlefield Earth is a 2000 American science fiction film adapted from L. Ron Hubbard's novel of the same name. It was directed by Roger Christian, and stars John Travolta, Forest Whitaker, and Barry Pepper...
, a group of humans, enslaved by an alien race called the PsychlosBattlefield Earth (novel)Battlefield Earth: A Saga of the Year 3000 is a 1982 science fiction novel written by the Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. He composed a soundtrack to the book called Space Jazz....
, trick them into thinking they're "mining" for gold by breaking into the Bullion Depository and delivering them the gold that's stored there.
Television
- In Season 3, Episode 13 ("The Two BartletsThe Two Bartlets-Plot:President Bartlet and his staff ponder whether to counter a fast-rising Republican presidential candidate's verbal assault on affirmative action, deciding at the end to make a very bland statement that does not stand up strongly for its merits. C.J...
") of the American television show The West Wing, a meeting takes place between a senior white house staff member and a UFO conspiracy theorist. The meeting was called in order to secure an audit of the Bullion Depository, as the theorist alleged that it was being used to store wreckage of an alien spacecraft rather than gold.
- In the Star Trek: VoyagerStar Trek: VoyagerStar Trek: Voyager is a science fiction television series set in the Star Trek universe. Set in the 24th century from the year 2371 through 2378, the series follows the adventures of the Starfleet vessel USS Voyager, which becomes stranded in the Delta Quadrant 70,000 light-years from Earth while...
season 5 episode "Dark Frontier", Captain Kathryn Janeway hatches a plan to steal a transwarp coil from a Borg ship, calling it Operation Fort Knox. The episode explains the depository's history, and that in the 22nd century, the Fort Knox facility was converted into a museum when a new world economy took shape.
- In Season 1, Episode 1 ("Wanted: The Super Friends") of the American Cartoon show Challenge of the Super FriendsChallenge of the Super FriendsChallenge of the Super Friends is an American animated television series about a team of superheroes which ran from September 9, 1978, to December 23, 1978, on ABC. The complete series was produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions for Warner Bros. Television and is based on the Justice League and...
, SupermanSupermanSuperman is a fictional comic book superhero appearing in publications by DC Comics, widely considered to be an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born American artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and sold to Detective...
falls under hypnosis by the Legion of Doom's Dream Machine and unknowing breaks in and robs the Depository. He later claims he dreamed of the robbery until his friends reveal that the robbery actually happened.
- In an early episode of Pinky and the BrainPinky and the BrainPinky and the Brain is an American animated television series.The characters Pinky and the Brain first appeared in 1993 as a recurring segment on the show Animaniacs...
(then part of the animated television series AnimaniacsAnimaniacsSteven Spielberg Presents Animaniacs, usually referred to as simply Animaniacs, is an American animated series, distributed by Warner Bros. Television and produced by Amblin Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation. The cartoon was the second animated series produced by the collaboration of Steven...
) titled "Opportunity Knox", Pinky and the Brain attempt to take over the world by breaking into Fort Knox and seizing its gold reserves. They manage to get into the vault by subduing the guards with a strong allergenic pollen. However, their plan is ultimately foiled when they attempt to lift a single gold bar and get crushed under its weight.
Video Games
- Borderlands features a villain named General Knoxx, whose job is to keep the protagonist from entering a secret armory named fort Knoxx, with an extremely large cache of weapons located inside.
See also
- Federal Reserve SystemFederal Reserve SystemThe Federal Reserve System is the central banking system of the United States. It was created on December 23, 1913 with the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act, largely in response to a series of financial panics, particularly a severe panic in 1907...
- Federal Reserve Bank of New YorkFederal Reserve Bank of New YorkThe Federal Reserve Bank of New York is one of the 12 Federal Reserve Banks of the United States. It is located at 33 Liberty Street, New York, NY. It is responsible for the Second District of the Federal Reserve System, which encompasses New York state, the 12 northern counties of New Jersey,...
- List of attractions and events in Louisville, Kentucky
- Gold reserveGold ReserveGold Reserve Inc. is a gold mining company with operations and mining property in Bolivar State, Venezuela.Founded in 1956, Gold Reserve Inc. is now headquartered in Spokane, Washington. The company has about ten employees at its Washington office and about 55 in Venezuela. Of these 55,...
- Nixon ShockNixon ShockThe Nixon Shock was a series of economic measures taken by U.S. President Richard Nixon in 1971 including unilaterally cancelling the direct convertibility of the United States dollar to gold that essentially ended the existing Bretton Woods system of international financial exchange.-Background:By...
—U.S. President Richard Nixon took the United States off the gold standardGold standardThe gold standard is a monetary system in which the standard economic unit of account is a fixed mass of gold. There are distinct kinds of gold standard...
, stopping the direct convertibility of United States dollars to gold.