a new government broke with tdition.land went off the gold staard and devaed theound sacrificing internatiol status for domestic recovery. but for the rest of the world,the financial repercussions weretaggering. [ shouting in french ] newsreel announcer: the shouting of frantic brokers reflects the deluge of wires from all parts of the globe. what is the pound worth today? schoumacher: with the stroke of aen those european banks which had been holding pounds lost millions. reacting to what he called the "earthquake in europe," president herbert hooverproclaimed america's steadfastness to the gold standard. but despite official pronouncemen manyuropeans feared that america would be next to devalue itsurrency. inational investors rushed to redeem their dollars for gold. boatloads of american gold reserves were sppedverseas. to protect the american banking system, to preserve confidence in the dollar based on the gold standard herbert hoover directed the federaresee system to make changes, changes that would "keep the ameri