ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the role of Keynes as a planner and negotiator of a new international monetary system. Keynes's plan for a new international system started with the "First Draft" for circulation within the Treasury. Keynes's plan, entitled "Proposals for an International Clearing Union" was finally approved by the War Cabinet. The main objectives of the Bank for Reconstruction and Development are to provide long-term capital for economic reconstruction, to supply short-term capital for foreign trade and to eliminate the danger of worldwide financial crises. The official who criticised it most harshly and continued to do so to the end was Hubert Henderson who supported "managed trade and bilateral barter agreements," at the Treasury. Keynes's activities from the Atlantic City Conference between the US and the UK to the Bretton Woods Conference were characterised by flexibility on his part; that is, Keynes emerged as a political pragmatist.
