End the Fed, by Rep. Ron Paul (R, TX): on Principles & Values

Ron Paul: 1971 dropping of gold standard prompted first run for office

In addition, wage and price controls were put in place. Instead of the markets collapsing, as I thought they would, the move was immediately praised by the Chamber of Commerce, and the stock market soared. The problems came a little bit later and lasted for a decade.

It was the consequences of this event in 1971 that prompted me to decide on a lark in late 1973 to run for Congress in 1974. Texas was still a Democratic state. The district I was running in had never been held by a Republican. My first victory didn't come until a special election in the spring of 1976. At the time, I was just anxious to have a forum in which to talk about monetary policy and its relationship to the inexorable growth of our federal government.