The near panic this caused in London and on Wall Street was enough to convince the Wilson administration that even if the dollar was to replace sterling in the long run, in the short term defending sterling was the cheapest way to prop up the Entente war effort. But this guarantee was limited to the duration of the war. When hostilities ended, the Entente would be left to its fate. The US dollar would emerge as the only global currency still securely based on gold.
