TTiz's year marks the fortieth anniversary of the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference that was held at Bretton Woods, New Hampshire (United States). This conference, held July 1-22, 1944, led to the creation of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. The Final Act embodying the Articles of Agreement of the two institutions was signed on July 22, 1944, and the two institutions came into existence on December 27, 1945. To commemorate the Bretton Woods conference, the Editor has invited a series of special articles from individuals who were involved with Bretton Woods itself or with the institutions in their early days. This article presents the personal impressions of Sir Joseph Gold, former General Counsel and Director of the Legal Department of the Fund. Some impressions of the early Fund Joseph Gold The Fund came into existence on Decem- They must not overlook that Bretton that they were engaged in a novel and ad- ber 27, 1945. I joined the staff on Octo- Woods was preceded by discussions venturous enterprise. The Fund was going ber 21,1946. My remarks will relate largely among political leaders, officials, and to administer, for the first time in history to the period of the magistracy of Camille scholars that began as early as 1941 in a and after a prolonged and destructive war, Gutt, Ivar Rooth, and Per Jacobsson, the world at war, which is yet another cause for a monetary order based on a compact first three Managing Directors. The period wonder. among nations. Members of the staff saw came to an end with the death of Per Ja- A newcomer to the staff of the Fund in its themselves as pioneers and privileged not cobsson on May 5, 1963. first years became aware almost at once of only for that reason but because they were I was not at Bretton Woods. My astonish- two currents in the atmosphere of the or- so few. The sense of partnership was ment that the delegates had been able to ganization. One was the influence of those strengthened because it was possible for so draft the Articles of Agreement in three Executive Directors and members of the small a staff to know almost every col- weeks has never diminished. This feat was staff who had participated in the Confer- league. Anyone in the elevator who was without precedent, nor has it been emu- ence or in the preparations for it. The intel- not recognizable was assumed to be on the lated since, in the negotiation of a major lectual vitality of these people enhanced staff of the World Bank. multilateral treaty. The Articles gave no their influence. It would be ungenerous not The spirit of the time attracted outstand- evidence of the pressure under which they to mention the Americans in particular, ing talents to the staff. By early 1948, for had been written. On the contrary, Keynes and Edward M. Bernstein among them. example, the Research Department, under was able to report to the Chancellor of the The lucidity of his explanations and the the direction of Bernstein, included—with- Exchequer, not without an undertone of eagerness with which he embarked on out limitation, as lawyers say when de- surprise, that the final product was "clear them were as remarkable as the foresight fending themselves against the charge of a and even aesthetic in presentation." What with which he seemed always to be on the truncated list—Jorge Del Canto, A.G.B. was accomplished at Bretton Woods can be point of producing from his typewriter the Fisher, Irving Friedman, Walter Gardner, compared with the 8 months of drafting the first draft of the very memorandum that Earl Hicks, Keith Horsefield, Javier First Amendment of the Articles and the 20 was needed at that moment. We nonpar- Marquez, Felipe Pazos, J.J. Polak, Ernest months of the Second Amendment. "Bret- ticipants were awed by the insiders and Sturc, and Robert Triffin. ton Woods" has entered the language of happy to accept their tutorship. I have Maintenance of a relatively small staff be- finance, as is evident from the tribute paid recorded my special indebtedness to one of came a tradition that persisted even when to the success of the Conference by minis- them in the first volume of The Fund Agree- recruitment began to increase in response ters who express their dissatisfaction with ment in the Courts. to the growing number of member coun- current monetary relations by calling from The other force that charged the air was tries and the expanding activities of the or- time to time for "a new Bretton Woods." the exhilaration shared by all in the Fund ganization. The passage of time, new con- Finance & Development / March 1984 23 ©International Monetary Fund. Not for Redistribution ditíons, and the difficulty of knowing all faced by the Executive Board. Uncertainty tive Board and that Pierre-Paul Schweitzer colleagues in a larger staff made it inevita- about the conditions that a member had to was an active Alternate Executive Director ble that the zeal of earlier years would be meet under this doctrine was one of the at a time of great strain between France and replaced by a more sober dedication. The deterrents that led to a decline in requests the Fund. reputation of the staff as an elite corps did for use of the Fund's resources and, after a Another consequence of the Fund's early not diminish, and has not disappeared to time, a total halt in financial activity. inactivity in providing financial assistance this day, even if for some the adjective elite The gloom that this lethargy produced to its members was constant dispute about now has an odious resonance. within the Fund was deepened by the the jurisdiction of the Fund. The staff, look- The desire to preserve the cohesion of speed with which the World Bank's activ- ing to the day when the Fund might realize earlier years was a motive for the creation ities began to flourish. In the negotiation of its potential, often, although not invari- of a Staff Association. When, during the joint activities with the Bank, which usu- ably, found authority in the Articles for in- days of Camille Gutt, a few delegates of the ally were no more than administrative in terpretations that sustained the jurisdiction staff approached him with trepidation to character, the Fund had to accept the role of the Fund. All the resources of interpreta- announce the formation of an association, of junior partner. It was painful also that tion were employed; text, context, intent, the tacticians decided that he should be as- the Fund tended to disappear from the purposes, and drafting history. Not infre- sured early in the interview that the func- public consciousness. A traveler by taxi had quently, even the techniques of interpreta- tions of the association would be largely little hope of reaching his destination in tion were the subject of debate by the Exec- social. The plenipotentiaries were non- Washington if the driver was instructed to utive Board. plussed by his immediate reaction, deliv- proceed to the International Monetary The preparation of most memoranda that ered with warmth in his typically husky Fund. He had to be directed to the World went to the Executive Board was under- tone: "Good! I have always favored trade Bank. Propinquity, at least, was a benefit taken by groups of members of the staff unions." Nevertheless, there seemed to be that the Fund could enjoy. who served in various divisions of the or- no occasion for activism by the staff in The absence of financial activity by the ganization and who were trained in various those days: salaries were considered com- Fund may have contributed to the con- disciplines. The superiority of collaborative petitive; other terms of service comfortable; tinuing appointment of part-time Executive studies was recognized at an early stage. and the Fund a kindly employer, with no Directors by some members. The differ- The custom spread to all aspects of the campaign conducted to make it less so. ences of opinion about the character of the practice of the Fund and did not decline as Fund that were expressed at Bretton Woods the structure of the organization became Early disappointment and at the Inaugural Meeting of the Board more complex. The effort to reach a joint Nevertheless, the early years were not of Governors at Savannah, Georgia, on view provoked much dispute but little ran- without disappointment, even grave disap- March 8-18, 1946, may have been a more cor among those engaged on an assign- pointment. It was not produced by a de- important reason. Some members had ment, notwithstanding the confidence that clining sense of mission. On the contrary, wanted the Fund's financing to be auto- each participant had in his own compe- unhappiness spread because the mission matic and they foresaw no need for resi- tence. The names of the collaborators had could not be fulfilled. The United States dent Executive Directors to supervise the to appear on the masthead of the memo- held the view that reconstruction was the Fund's financial activities. Furthermore, randa they produced for the Executive fundamental problem of the time. If indus- nonresident Executive Directors would be Board, but later only the names of those try and agriculture could be restored in more effective in communicating the views who approved the documents were cited. devastated countries, there would be no of their governments to the Fund on the The Managing Director, as head of the difficulty about exporting the products, policies it should follow.