Bretton Woods Conference

1 July 1944, 3 p.m., Mount Washington Hotel

The United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference formally convened at the Mount Washington Hotel in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, on 1 July 1944, with its inaugural plenary session at 3 p.m.

Henry Morgenthau Jr., designated temporary chairman by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, opened the proceedings, and Roosevelt's message of welcome was read. Hsiang-Hsi Kung responded for China and Ladislav Feierabend for Czechoslovakia.

The conference then appointed its credentials, rules and nominations committees.

44 delegations, 730 people

Forty-four national delegations took part, and total attendance reached 730 people — about three times the expected number, with overflow accommodation as far as five miles from conference headquarters.

Some histories say representatives of 45 countries attended, because Denmark's minister was present in a personal capacity.

What the delegates could and could not do

The participating governments had been invited to formulate definite proposals for an international monetary fund and, if possible, a bank for reconstruction and development. The delegates did not possess authority to bind their governments immediately.

Nothing sprang into legal existence on opening day: the conference completed proposed Articles on 22 July, and the IMF Articles entered into force in December 1945.

The "United Nations" of the conference's title meant the wartime Allied coalition, and the meeting opened while the war was still being fought in Europe and the Pacific.