Charles G. Dawes was not only a common was American banker and politician. Having several connections he soon got into prominent positions. Due to that after his graduation from Marietta College in 1884 and the Cincinnati Law School in 1886 he started a very fast political career. Following William McKinley’s election as President of the United States Charles G. Dawes got the position of the Comptroller of the Currency. In October 1901 he left the Department of the Treasury and tried to get a U.S. Senate seat in the State of Illinois. While this plan failed he declared Charles G. Dawes became President of Central Trust Company of Illinois until the year of 1921. Together with that business life Charles G. Dawes also had a military engagement during World War I.

This First World War was lost by the German Empire. As a consequence of the Treaty of Versailles the German Empire had to agree that the Rhineland will be demilitarised and administered by Great Britain and France. Further on the German troops were limited. Also the German Empire lost its colonies and territories, like Alsace, Lorraine and West Prussia. Finally the Saarland province got to be controlled by the League of Nations for the next 15 years. Anyway, the heaviest result have been the reparations in a total sum of 226 billion Also a reduced sum of 132 billion Reichsmarks was not able to prevent a gigantic period of hyperinflation in the German Weimar Republic. While Germany could not pay the war reparations in 1921 a rapid devaluation of the Mark began. Staying relatively stable at about 60 Marks per US Dollar during the first half of 1921, the rate climbed to approx. 330 Marks per US Dollar in November. Falling to 8000 Marks per Dollar by December 1922, France and Belgium wanted to keep a guarantee that their reparations will be any longer paid. While in 1923 French and Belgian troops occupied the industrial region of Germany in the Ruhr valley to keep the coal, Germanys financial system collapsed. At the peak the rate was approx. 4,200,000,000,000 Marks per US Dollar – banknotes with a nominal of 5,000,000,000,000 Marks unfortunately had been common …
This desaster required a solution. Therefore as a new currency the Rentenmark) was introduced – having a fixed value and being secured by real estate.
Anyway, there was no solution relating to the payment of the reparations. At this time Charles G. Dawes was asked by the Allied Reparations Commission to find a solution to which all parties could agree. Following the results of the agreement of August 1924 the Ruhr area was to be evacuated, also some other changes were signed. One of the most important aspects was the issue of German External Loans. These bonds substituted the German economy with fresh US money. Being issued in US Dollar and underlaid with gold they are called German Dollar Bonds. Although this could not prevent the crash of 1929, C. G. Dawes received the Nobel Prize in the year of 1925.