ABSTRACT
In July 1931 — the midpoint of Laval's ministry of January 1931 to February 1932 — it was Germany's Chancellor and central bank president who came to Paris in search of credits and, on refusing to accept the terms, returned home to introduce exchange restrictions. Thirty-seven years later, following the events in Paris of May 1968, de Gaulle sent his Finance Minister to Bonn to demand a revaluation of the mark and stand-by credits. The balance of payments of the USA gained strength from other nations repaying foreign credits or buying their external bonds at deep discounts in the New York market from US investors. Investors had attained a new equilibrium in their portfolios which fitted the changed French franc–dollar rate and the increased interest rates in France. The political crisis had been adding to the drain on France's gold reserves.
