The gold-backed currency did not, in fact, work okay in the US for a long time. Between 1836 and the Great Depression, the economy went 3 or more years between recessions only 4 times. By comparison, the last three gaps between recessions were 7, 10, and 6 years; and it's now been 13 years since the last one.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_recessions_in_the_Unit...