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Bretton Woods Conference
Bretton Woods Conference (1944).The breakdown of the world economic system during the 1930s Great Depression convinced American and British planners of the need for a new international economic framework as part of the postwar settlement. Anglo‐American discussions led by U.S. Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Harry Dexter White and the British Treasury representative John Maynard Keynes began in 1942. These talks as well as intragovernmental planning in both countries led to an international conference held in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, in July 1944. Attended by representatives of forty‐five nations, the conclave produced the blueprints for two new institutions, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (or World Bank), as well as discussions of a third, the International Trade Organization.
The underlying principles of the Bretton Woods agreements followed American, not British preferences, hardly surprising since the United States at the end of World War II owned half of the world's supply of monetary gold and produced half of global gross national product. Embracing the capitalist ethos of the United States, the Bretton Woods system assumed that prosperity brought peace and that the best guarantee of prosperity was an international economic system based on the freest possible flow of money and goods. American planners had hoped that the wartime participation of the Soviet Union in the Grand Alliance with the United States and Great Britain would convince the Soviet government to join the new international economic order. Soviet attendance at the Bretton Woods conference seemed to augur well, but the following year the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin vetoed Soviet participation in the Bretton Woods organizations. Although operational arrangements of the Bretton Woods institutions evolved in the decades after 1944, the agreements nonetheless provided the basic framework for the capitalist economic system during the Cold War and after. See also Capitalism; Depressions, Economic; Foreign Relations: U.S. Relations with Europe; Foreign Trade, U.S.; General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade; Tariffs. Bibliography Richard Gardner , Sterling‐Dollar Diplomacy: The Origins and the Prospects of Our International Economic Order, 1969. Diane B. Kunz |
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Paul S. Boyer. "Bretton Woods Conference." The Oxford Companion to United States History. 2001. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. Paul S. Boyer. "Bretton Woods Conference." The Oxford Companion to United States History. 2001. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O119-BrettonWoodsConference.html Paul S. Boyer. "Bretton Woods Conference." The Oxford Companion to United States History. 2001. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O119-BrettonWoodsConference.html |
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Bretton Woods Conference
BRETTON WOODS CONFERENCEBRETTON WOODS CONFERENCE, also known as the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference, held in New Hampshire in July 1944, was attended by forty-four nations. The conference was held to make plans for post–World War II international economic cooperation similar to the groundwork for political cooperation laid by the Atlantic Charter. The delegates reached agreement on an International Monetary Fund to promote exchange stability and expansion of international trade and on an International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, which became the World Bank. Four of the nations attending, Haiti, Liberia, New Zealand, and the Soviet Union, did not sign. BIBLIOGRAPHYDam, Kenneth W. The Rules of the Game: Reform and Evolution in the International Monetary System. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1982. Kunz, Diane B. Butter and Guns: America's Cold War Economic Diplomacy. New York: Free Press, 1997. Charles S.Campbell/a. g. See alsoInternational Monetary Fund . |
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"Bretton Woods Conference." Dictionary of American History. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "Bretton Woods Conference." Dictionary of American History. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3401800554.html "Bretton Woods Conference." Dictionary of American History. 2003. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3401800554.html |
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Bretton Woods conference
Bretton Woods conference, also known as the United Nations Monetary and Financial conference, this meeting was held at Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, from 1 to 22 July 1944. It was largely the inspiration of the British economist Maynard Keynes and the US treasury assistant Harry Dexter White (who was, incidentally, a spy of Stalin's), and was attended by delegates from 44 nations. Its objective was to outline plans for post-war economic co-operation on a world-wide scale parallel to the political co-operation delineated by the Atlantic Charter and the Four-Power Declaration. For this purpose it was agreed to form the International Monetary Fund, which began functioning in December 1945 with 22 countries as members, and an International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (now known as the World Bank) with an authorized capital of $10 billion. Four nations—Haiti, Liberia, New Zealand, and the USSR—refused to be party to the conference's decisions.
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I. C. B. DEAR and M. R. D. FOOT. "Bretton Woods conference." The Oxford Companion to World War II. 2001. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. I. C. B. DEAR and M. R. D. FOOT. "Bretton Woods conference." The Oxford Companion to World War II. 2001. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O129-BrettonWoodsconference.html I. C. B. DEAR and M. R. D. FOOT. "Bretton Woods conference." The Oxford Companion to World War II. 2001. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O129-BrettonWoodsconference.html |
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Bretton Woods Conference
Bretton Woods Conference (July 1944) An international financial conference of representatives of forty-four countries which met in the town of Bretton Woods, New Hampshire. In an attempt to establish a more successful international financial system than the Gold Standard, which had been the determinant of currency values until the 1930s, the conference devised a system of exchange rates which were pegged to the US dollar. It also established an International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (the World Bank) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to finance short-term imbalances in international trade. After an initial collapse in 1947, the Bretton Woods system of fixed exchange rates survived in modified form until August 1971, when the USA left the agreement. In face of increasing capital mobility and consequent inability of national governments to control the exchange rate, the system of fixed exchange rates was finally abandoned in 1976.
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JAN PALMOWSKI. "Bretton Woods Conference." A Dictionary of Contemporary World History. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. JAN PALMOWSKI. "Bretton Woods Conference." A Dictionary of Contemporary World History. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O46-BrettonWoodsConference.html JAN PALMOWSKI. "Bretton Woods Conference." A Dictionary of Contemporary World History. 2004. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O46-BrettonWoodsConference.html |
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Bretton Woods Conference
Bretton Woods Conference (officially the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference) It met at Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, in July 1944. It was summoned on the initiative of US President Franklin D. Roosevelt to establish a system of international monetary cooperation and prevent severe financial crises such as that of 1929, which had precipitated the Great Depression. Representatives of 44 countries agreed to establish the International Monetary Fund (IMF), to provide cash reserves for member states faced by deficits in their balance of payments, and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, or World Bank, to provide credit to states requiring financial investment in major economic projects.
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"Bretton Woods Conference." World Encyclopedia. 2005. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "Bretton Woods Conference." World Encyclopedia. 2005. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O142-BrettonWoodsConference.html "Bretton Woods Conference." World Encyclopedia. 2005. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O142-BrettonWoodsConference.html |
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Bretton Woods Conference
Bretton Woods Conference (1944) A United Nations monetary and financial conference. Representatives from 44 nations met at Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, USA, to consider the stabilization of world currencies and the establishment of credit for international trade in the post-war world. They drew up a project for an International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (WORLD BANK) which would make long-term capital available to states urgently needing such aid, and a plan for an International Monetary Fund (IMF) to finance short-term imbalances in international trade and payments. The Bank and the Fund continue as specialized agencies of the United Nations.
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"Bretton Woods Conference." A Dictionary of World History. 2000. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "Bretton Woods Conference." A Dictionary of World History. 2000. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O48-BrettonWoodsConference.html "Bretton Woods Conference." A Dictionary of World History. 2000. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O48-BrettonWoodsConference.html |
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Bretton Woods Conference
Bretton Woods Conference name commonly given to the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference, held (July 1–22, 1944) at Bretton Woods, N.H. The conference resulted in the creation of the International Monetary Fund , to promote international monetary cooperation, and of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development . By Dec., 1945, the required number of governments had ratified the treaties creating the two organizations, and by the summer of 1946 they had begun operation. |
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"Bretton Woods Conference." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "Bretton Woods Conference." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-BrettonW.html "Bretton Woods Conference." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-BrettonW.html |
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Bretton Woods Conference
Bretton Woods Conference a World War II meeting attended by representatives from forty-four nations, held at Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, on July 1–2, 1944. It established the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, which was established in 1945, and the International Monetary Fund, which was established in 1946. Both were established to provide postwar economic assistance to governments in need.
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"Bretton Woods Conference." The Oxford Essential Dictionary of the U.S. Military. 2001. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "Bretton Woods Conference." The Oxford Essential Dictionary of the U.S. Military. 2001. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O63-BrettonWoodsConference.html "Bretton Woods Conference." The Oxford Essential Dictionary of the U.S. Military. 2001. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O63-BrettonWoodsConference.html |
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