White, Harry Dexter

The designer of the International Monetary Fund and the fixed-exchange rate system that came into existence after the end of World War II that made the dollar the center of the global financial world. White was a bureaucrat who was assigned by U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau to begin planning a system to keep international currencies stable after World War II ended. The fixed currency system remained in place until it was scrapped in 1971. Negotiations were held in 1944 at Bretton Woods, New Hampshire as the war was drawing to a close. A few years later White was accused by journalist Whittaker Chambers of passing secrets to Communists during World War II. The House Un-American Activities Committee, headed by California Representative Richard Nixon, held hearings. White died of a heart attack after being interrogated by the committee.