Bretton Woods Trades Skis for Delegates

An area located within the town of Carroll, New Hampshire, Bretton Woods is primarily known for its nearly five hundred acres of skiing and snowboarding trails. Almost surrounded completely by the White Mountains, it features only two artificial structures: the Mount Washington Hotel and the Cog Railway.

Seventy-five years ago, this tiny hamlet was known for hosting over seven hundred delegates from forty-four countries during the “United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference,” also known as the Bretton Woods Conference.

Held from July 1-22, the conference was the culmination of nearly two years of conversations, committee meetings, and planning. Early in the war, John Maynard Keynes of the British Treasury and Harry Dexter White of the U.S. Treasury Department independently began to develop ideas about how to create worldwide financial order once the conflict was over. After negotiations between the U.S. and Britain, a statement was issued to many of the Allied countries inviting them to the conference “for the purpose of formulating definite proposals for an International Monetary Fund and possibly a bank for reconstruction and development.”

The invitation was met with enthusiasm, and experts flocked to the forests of New Hampshire to meet. By the end of the conference, representatives had penned Articles of Agreement for the IMF and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), later known as the World Bank. In addition, the “Final Act” set up adjustable pegged foreign exchange market based on gold, and countries pledged to make their currencies convertible for trade-related and other transactions.

The monetary system, referred to as the Bretton Woods System by those in the financial industry, lasted until the early 1970s. The dollar exchange crises of 1971 and 1973 caused experts to create the floating exchange rate system that is still in place today.

After the agreements were signed, Fred Vinson, Secretary of the Treasury said, “History is being written today as we execute these documents and breathe the breath of life into the International Monetary Fund and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. We can be thankful that the history we are now writing is not another chapter in the almost endless chronicle of war and strife. Ours is a mission of peace – not just lip service to the ideals of peace – but action, concrete action, designed to establish the economic foundations of peace on the bed rock of genuine international cooperation.”

The representatives returned to their countries, and the valley returned to its idyllic silence.

Where have you traveled and used the exchange rate system?

Linda Shenton Matchett is an author, speaker, and history geek. A native of Baltimore, she was born a stone’s throw from Fort McHenry and has lived in historic places all her life. She is a member of ACFW, RWA, and Sisters in Crime. Linda is a volunteer docent and archivist for the Wright Museum of WWII. She and her husband make their home in Central New Hampshire, two hours south of historic Bretton Woods. To find out more about Linda and her books, including her latest, Love’s Belief, visit her website.  To sign up for her newsletter and receive a free short story click here.