A Little-Known Slice Of World History Happened At This New Hampshire Hotel

As the Second World War continued to rage in Europe, economists were thinking ahead to a post-war world with a vision of an international financial system that would help all the participating countries to recover and grow. One of New Hampshire's grand hotels, the Mt. Washington Hotel (today's Omni Mount Washington Resort), would play a pivotal role in world history by hosting the Bretton Woods Conference.

The Mt. Washington Hotel in Bretton Woods was host to one of the most important economic summits of the 20th century.

From July 1-22, 1944, the hotel was the gathering place for 730 delegates from all of the 44 allied nations of that era.

As World War II continued overseas, the delegates came together in the interest of regulating the regulate the international monetary markets after the war was over.

One of the main goals was to avoid the complications that created The Great Depression and its associated trade wars.

Another principle of the conference was the notion of open markets which would end an era of economic nationalism.

Henry Morgenthau Jr. served as United States Secretary of the Treasury at the time and not only spoke on opening delay but gave the closing remarks.

The hotel still honors the Bretton Woods Conference with a display of flags from the participating nations within the Gold Room.

If you've enjoyed learning about this bit of world history that happened right here in New Hampshire, I would also recommend reading about why our state didn't always have the name it has now and discovering one New Hampshire county that contains more than 150 historic sites.