{ "title": "Overshadowed Founder", "sourceUrl": "https://www.imf.org/en/publications/fandd/issues/2022/03/book-review-overshadowed-founder-ghosh", "canonical": "https://www.imf.org/en/publications/fandd/issues/2022/03/book-review-overshadowed-founder-ghosh", "overlayPath": "/en/publications/fandd/issues/2022/03/book-review-overshadowed-founder-ghosh/index.md", "summary": "Harry White and the American Creed: How a Federal Bureaucrat Created the Modern Global Economy (and Failed to Get the Credit)", "sections": [ { "heading": "Overview", "content": "- Title reviewed: Harry White and the American Creed: How a Federal Bureaucrat Created the Modern Global Economy (and Failed to Get the Credit)\n- Publication: F&D Magazine\n- Author of review: ATISH REX GHOSH is historian at the IMF.\n- Reading indicator on page: Less than a minute(0 words) Read" }, { "heading": "Key findings about Harry Dexter White and the book by James Boughton", "content": "- White’s signature achievement: contribution to shaping the postwar international monetary order decided at the Bretton Woods Conference.\n- Boughton credits White with four main insights:\n - the postwar system needed to be designed while war was still being waged;\n - it would need to be designed by all the allied nations, and not just presented as a fait accompli negotiated between Britain and the United States;\n - it should promote multilateral trade and payments;\n - it should be based on the US dollar, rather than some new, artificial international currency.\n- Boughton documents White’s early years and career trajectory:\n - White started his higher education only in his late 20s, after serving in World War I.\n - He attended Columbia, Stanford, and Harvard, where he was awarded the prize for the best PhD dissertation in 1932.\n - During the Great Depression jobs were hard to come by; White taught at a small college in Wisconsin.\n - He interned at the US Treasury for three months in the summer of 1934 after being invited by Jacob Viner.\n - During that internship he produced a 400-page report on what monetary system the United States should have.\n- On espionage charges:\n - Boughton meticulously documents every charge and insinuation that White was a Soviet agent and finds them flimsy and often ridiculous.\n - Boughton’s concluding judgment (quoted): “if White was a spy, he was very bad at it…for a man who was so good at everything he applied himself to doing, to accuse him of such an agency would be the unkindest charge of all.”" }, { "heading": "Assessment and implications", "content": "- Boughton’s biography redresses the imbalance of attention between John Maynard Keynes and Harry Dexter White, arguing for White’s place alongside Keynes.\n- The review highlights a tension in the postwar design choice: basing the international monetary system on the US dollar rather than creating a new international currency, with Boughton (via White) arguing practicality given US Congressional ratification concerns." }, { "heading": "Tone and style", "content": "- Boughton’s book is described as a fine piece of scholarship that reads like a thriller.\n- The review emphasizes Boughton’s careful documentation and defense of White’s legacy.\n\nF&D Magazine — review by ATISH REX GHOSH, historian at the IMF.\n\n---\n\n Content in this bundle\n\n- استعراض الكتب\n - استعراض الكتب (Markdown version){rel=\"alternate\" type=\"text/markdown\"}\n - استعراض الكتب (PDF){rel=\"external\" type=\"application/pdf\"}\n- Un fondateur dans l’ombre de Keynes\n - Un fondateur dans l’ombre de Keynes (Markdown version){rel=\"alternate\" type=\"text/markdown\"}\n - Un fondateur dans l’ombre de Keynes (PDF){rel=\"external\" type=\"application/pdf\"}\n- Overshadowed Founder\n - Overshadowed Founder (Markdown version){rel=\"alternate\" type=\"text/markdown\"}\n - Overshadowed Founder (PDF){rel=\"external\" type=\"application/pdf\"}\n- Книжное обозрение – Финансы и развитие – Переосмысление бюджетных основ – март 2022 года\n - Книжное обозрение – Финансы и развитие – Переосмысление бюджетных основ – март 2022 года (Markdown version){rel=\"alternate\" type=\"text/markdown\"}\n - Книжное обозрение – Финансы и развитие – Переосмысление бюджетных основ – март 2022 года (PDF){rel=\"external\" type=\"application/pdf\"}\n- Fundador eclipsado ● Finanzas y Desarrollo ● Marzo de 2022\n - Fundador eclipsado ● Finanzas y Desarrollo ● Marzo de 2022 (Markdown version){rel=\"alternate\" type=\"text/markdown\"}\n - Fundador eclipsado ● Finanzas y Desarrollo ● Marzo de 2022 (PDF){rel=\"external\" type=\"application/pdf\"}\n- 黯然失色的创始人\n - 黯然失色的创始人 (Markdown version){rel=\"alternate\" type=\"text/markdown\"}\n - 黯然失色的创始人 (PDF){rel=\"external\" type=\"application/pdf\"}\n\n---\n\nSource: https://www.imf.org/en/publications/fandd/issues/2022/03/book-review-overshadowed-founder-ghosh" } ], "bullets": [ "[Markdown version](/en/publications/fandd/issues/2022/03/book-review-overshadowed-founder-ghosh/index.md)", "[Structured JSON version](/en/publications/fandd/issues/2022/03/book-review-overshadowed-founder-ghosh/index.json)", "[Bundle manifest](/en/publications/fandd/issues/2022/03/book-review-overshadowed-founder-ghosh/bundle-manifest.json)", "Authors: Atish Ghosh", "Published: March 1, 2022", "Title reviewed: Harry White and the American Creed: How a Federal Bureaucrat Created the Modern Global Economy (and Failed to Get the Credit)", "Publication: F&D Magazine", "Author of review: ATISH REX GHOSH is historian at the IMF.", "Reading indicator on page: Less than a minute(0 words) Read", "White’s signature achievement: contribution to shaping the postwar international monetary order decided at the Bretton Woods Conference.", "Boughton credits White with four main insights:", "Boughton documents White’s early years and career trajectory:", "On espionage charges:", "Boughton’s biography redresses the imbalance of attention between John Maynard Keynes and Harry Dexter White, arguing for White’s place alongside Keynes.", "The review highlights a tension in the postwar design choice: basing the international monetary system on the US dollar rather than creating a new international currency, with Boughton (via White) arguing practicality given US Congressional ratification concerns.", "Boughton’s book is described as a fine piece of scholarship that reads like a thriller.", "The review emphasizes Boughton’s careful documentation and defense of White’s legacy.", "**استعراض الكتب**", "**Un fondateur dans l’ombre de Keynes**", "**Overshadowed Founder**", "**Книжное обозрение – Финансы и развитие – Переосмысление бюджетных основ – март 2022 года**", "**Fundador eclipsado ● Finanzas y Desarrollo ● Marzo de 2022**", "**黯然失色的创始人**" ], "related": [ { "title": "استعراض الكتب", "role": "document", "sourceUrl": "https://www.imf.org/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2022/march/ar/book-gosh-p67.pdf", "summary": { "path": 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