Dollar’s Superpower Status at Risk From Turmoil at Home and Abroad
Washington’s aggressive use of sanctions and heightened partisanship are shaking foreigners’ faith in the US currency, according to an exclusive excerpt of Paper Soldiers.
One cloudy autumn evening in Washington, a black Chevy suburban pulled up to an old stone mansion on Sixteenth Street. The columns of the White House were visible just one block south. A man wearing a dark suit and an earpiece emerged from the front seat and opened the passenger door, placing a small stepping stool on the ground in front of it. A 5-foot-3-inch woman with short white hair, the collar of her plum-colored blazer popped up, exited the SUV and swiftly entered the Hay-Adams Hotel, the Secret Service officer in her wake.
Once inhabited by a descendant of one of the nation’s Founding Fathers, the 136-year-old Beaux Arts building has received members of the literati like Mark Twain and political giants like Henry Kissinger. On the night of Oct. 20, 2021, it was the scene of a private gathering to welcome a new US Treasury secretary: Janet Yellen.