Richard Nixon announced the 1971 policy that ended direct dollar convertibility into gold before the 1973–74 stock-market crash.
On August 15, 1971, President Richard Nixon announced the suspension of the dollar's convertibility into gold for foreign governments and central banks. The decision became known as the Nixon shock and helped end the Bretton Woods system of fixed exchange rates. It was part of a wider package that also included wage and price controls.
The 1973–74 market crash occurred later, amid inflation, economic weakness, the 1973 oil crisis, and political uncertainty. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost roughly 45% between January 1973 and December 1974. The Nixon shock was therefore an important neighboring event, not the name of the crash itself.