Leading into the Depression of 1893, a leading London investment bank collapsed in 1890, hard-pressed British investors sold millions of dollars worth of stock in American railroads and other corporations and converted their dollars to gold, draining U.S. gold reserves. By 1895, the gold reserve was barely a shadow of it's former self. With the gold reserves down to $41 million, Pres. Grover Cleveland turned to Wall Street. Bankers J.P. Morgan and August Belmont agreed to lend the government $62 million in exchange for U.S. bonds at a special discount. With this loan, the government replenished the U.S. gold reserve.
Cleveland saved the gold standard, but at a high price and Morgan and Belmont made a handsome profit on the deal.
A gold backed dollar has seen its day. It is a fallacy that the gold backed dollar provides stability and wealth and is just a false belief. It's just another investment whose price goes up and down and should be treated as such.