Fixing the exchange rates was as far as he wished to go for the time being, hoping that this would make economic integration inevitable. Due to political pressure exerted by France, the final date of EMU was left open in the end. On 1 January 1971, the first phase commenced.
Lehman had just failed, and we were getting the initial reports of the fallout, like reports of battlefield casualties, that market after market was damaged or frozen. Credit spreads, the difference between the rate in any given market and the risk-free rate, were blowing up, bringing financial activity to a near standstill.