27 December 1945: The IMF and World Bank come to life
The Bretton Woods agreements formally took effect as enough countries signed on, establishing the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. The system pegged major currencies to the dollar, which was convertible to gold at $35 an ounce. It anchored the postwar boom for a quarter century, until President Nixon closed the gold window in 1971 and currencies began to float.
The lesson: No monetary system lasts forever, even one designed by the world's best economists.
Could you have called it at the time? The wheel picks the year, you pick the position, ten seconds a pick.
Play Sixty-40