DC By the Book

Excerpt: In July 1944, the Allied nations met for the International Monetary and Financial Conference at Bretton Woods, New Hampshire. Determined that a Great Depression should never recur, the conference founded two new institutions. The World Bank was established to finance reconstruction and development. The International Monetary Fund was created to promote consultation and collaboration on international monetary and financial problems. More than half a century later, these institutions still stand—one on either side of Nineteenth Street, NW.