1892.10.29.–1948.8.16.
○ Died of a heart attack
US Treasury official who dominated the Bretton Woods conference and shaped the IMF and the World Bank
Born in Boston to Lithuanian Jewish immigrants, White earned a Harvard PhD and joined the Treasury in 1934, becoming Secretary Morgenthau's chief adviser on international finance: director of the Division of Monetary Research in 1938, Assistant to the Secretary in 1941 and Assistant Secretary in 1945. He dominated the 1944 Bretton Woods conference, where his design prevailed over Keynes's. He became the US Executive Director of the IMF in 1946 and resigned abruptly on 19 June 1947. Accused in 1948 of spying for the Soviet Union, he denied it; after testifying before HUAC on 13 August he had a heart attack and died three days later. Decoded Venona cables and Soviet archives have led many researchers to conclude that he passed classified information to Soviet agents, though how to characterise it is still debated.
Activities and affiliations
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1934–1946
United States state institutionsTreasury Director of Monetary Research and Assistant SecretaryMain
Economy, finance and planning -
1944
United States state institutionsSenior US official at the Bretton Woods conference
Diplomacy and international organization -
1946–1947
United States state institutionsUS Executive Director of the IMF
Economy, finance and planning
Career Timeline
- 1934Joined the Treasury
- 1938Director of the Treasury Division of Monetary Research
- 1941Assistant to the Secretary of the Treasury
- 1944.07Led the US side at the Bretton Woods conference
- 1945–1946Assistant Secretary of the Treasury
- 1946–1947.06.19US Executive Director of the IMF
- 1948.08.13Testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee