World War II, Bretton Woods and the road to the Treasury–Federal Reserve Accord (1936-1951)

1. Banking Act reshapes Fed governance and powers

   Aug 23, 1935Labels: Banking Act, Federal Reserve, FOMC

   • Fed History

2. Fed starts reserve-requirement increases amid recovery

   Aug 16, 1936Labels: Federal Reserve, Member banks

   • World Bank
   • NBER

3. Tripartite Agreement seeks exchange-rate stability

   Sep 25, 1936Labels: Tripartite Agreement, United States, United Kingdom

   • State Hist
   • Tripartite

4. Treasury begins “gold sterilization” policy

   Dec 22, 1936Labels: U S, Gold sterilization

   • Presidency
   • Fed History

5. Second and third reserve-requirement hikes take effect

   May 1, 1937Labels: Federal Reserve, Reserve requirements

   • World Bank
   • NBER

6. Treasury ends inactive-gold-account sterilization

   Apr 19, 1938Labels: U S, Henry Morgenthau

   • Indep Inst

7. U.S. enters World War II with war declaration

   Dec 8, 1941Labels: United States, World War

   • War Decl

8. Fed agrees to peg Treasury yields for wartime finance

   Apr 30, 1942Labels: Federal Reserve, Yield peg

   • Cleveland Fed
   • Fed WWII

9. Bretton Woods conference designs postwar monetary order

   Jul 1, 1944Labels: Bretton Woods, IMF

   • IMF
   • BrettonW

10. Bretton Woods Agreements Act authorizes U.S. participation

    Jul 31, 1945Labels: Bretton Woods, U S

    • Avalon
    • State Hist

11. IMF Articles enter into force as countries sign

    Dec 27, 1945Labels: IMF Articles, International Monetary

    • IMF
    • State Hist

12. Postwar inflation strains the wartime rate peg

    Jan 1, 1946Labels: Federal Reserve, Postwar inflation

    • Fed Accord
    • Cleveland Fed

13. Korean War era revives inflation concerns and conflict

    Jun 1, 1950Labels: Korean War, Federal Reserve

    • Fed Accord

14. Fed signals it will stop maintaining the existing peg

    Feb 19, 1951Labels: Federal Reserve, Policy signal

    • Fed Accord

15. Treasury–Federal Reserve Accord reasserts monetary-policy independence

    Mar 4, 1951Labels: Treasury Federal, U S

    • Fed Accord