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The Bretton Woods Conference, officially known as the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference, was a meeting of delegates from 44 nations that met from July 1 to 22, 1944 in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire. The purpose of the conference was to agree upon a series of new rules for the monetary system after World War II.
The genesis of the 1944 conference dates back to the Atlantic Conference in 1941, but by early 1942, more detailed plans were being developed with the ideas from Harry Dexter White, a Special Assistant to the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, and John Maynard Keynes, an advisor to the British Treasury, being the two major competing schools of thought. In mid-June 1944, a preliminary conference was held in Atlantic City and on July 1, 1944, the Bretton Woods Conference convened.1
The conference resulted in the creation of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the International Bank for Reconstruction & Development (IBRD) though that quickly became the World Bank. It was intended that the IMF was to maintain a system of fixed exchange rates centered on the U.S. dollar and gold, while the IBRD was responsible for providing financial assistance for the reconstruction of war-ravaged nations and the economic development of less developed countries.2 The IMF and IBRD formally came into existence on December 27, 1945. The World Bank opened it doors on June 25, 19463 and made its first loan in 1947.4
While the Bretton Woods system was in place until President Richard Nixon ended the dollar’s convertibility to gold in 1971, both the IMF and World Bank are still operating today.
Today, the IMF is an organization of 190 member countries with approximately 2,700 staff from 150 countries. The World Bank includes 189 member countries with staff from more than 170 countries and offices in over 130 locations, and is a family of five organizations including the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) International Development Association (IDA), International Finance Corporation (IFC), Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), and International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID).
Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), delivered the Kissinger Lecture in Foreign Policy and International Relations at the Kluge Center on December 4, 2018. Lagarde spoke about the changing landscape of the international system and the need for continued creativity in U.S. leadership in order to tackle the world's shared economic challenges. Afterwards, Lagarde was interviewed by Margaret Brennan of Face the Nation on CBS.
The following titles link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog. Links to digital content are provided when available.
The Battle of Bretton Woods by 
Bretton Woods by 
Bretton Woods Agreements: A Bibliography by 
The Bretton Woods Agreements : Together with Scholarly Commentaries and Essential Historical Documents by 
The Bretton Woods Transcripts by 
Doc[uments] no. [1]-547 by The First Half Century by 
The IMF in a Changing World, 1945-85 by International monetary fund. Articles of agreement between the United States of America and other powers, formulated at the United nations monetary and financial conference, Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, July 1 to July 22, 1944, signed at Washington Decem by Proceedings : annual meeting of the Board of Governors by Summary proceedings ... annual Meeting of the Board of Governors by The following resources created and digitized by the Library of Congress can be used to find out more about the Bretton-Woods and the creation of the IMF and World Bank as well as other events of the day.
Chronicling America, Historic American Newspapers
United States Statutes at Large
Digital Image CollectionsThese online resources provide more information on the topic and include resources you can search for images, news articles and more.
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