"… your dollar will be worth just as much tomorrow as it is today."

~ President Richard Nixon

On this day fifty-three years ago, the seeds of our nation's ruin were sown, and we're still reaping their bitter harvest today. What happened caused far greater long-term damage than the 1929 stock market crash, JFK's assassination, and the 9/11 attacks. Yet most people know nothing about it.

It was a warm Sunday afternoon in August. Families gathered in backyards, with barbecues sizzling and kids laughing as they enjoyed the last days of summer. As the sun dipped, parents called their kids inside, ice cubes clinked in glasses, and TVs flickered on in living rooms across America.

Little did these people know, as they settled in for their evening routines, that President Richard Nixon was about to make an announcement that would change their lives forever. Here's a snippet of that historical broadcast below.