Читать книгу Financial Cold War. A View of Sino-US Relations from the Financial Markets онлайн

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It took two years of sometimes heated negotiations between the British and the Americans before the representatives of 44 nations finally, in July 1944, congregated on the Mount Washington Hotel in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire to ratify the historic international agreement. The Bretton Woods conference itself was largely a formality, since most of the terms had been hammered out beforehand. The three-week event had a jovial atmosphere about it, fuelled by the flow of alcohol. The countries taking part included an eclectic mix of Allied Powers, governments in exile, British colonies, and emerging markets. Some were just happy to be there, without really understanding much of what was going on.

America's far stronger negotiating position meant that, on almost all key elements, White's proposal prevailed over the Keynes plan. Even so, Harry White took painstaking care to choreograph every detail of the conference to ensure that the dollar-based monetary order that he had advocated was ratified. History would later vindicate Keynes’ reservations about the White plan, however.