World War II had ended by the time the United Nations delegates gathered at Mount Washington Hotel in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, but the shape of the world had changed. Swaths of Europe lay devastated, requiring major resource infusions, and the old financial models simply did not work anymore. The goal of the conference was to resolve the latter to help the former: create a world-spanning trade agreement that would help out all nations.

On this day, December 27, in 1945, the World Bank, a transnational financial institution intended to invest in growing countries, was established in Washington, D.C.

The World Bank was created along with its sister institution, the International Monetary Fund – traditionally headed up by a European, while the World Bank would have an American in charge. The first loan, for $250 million, was approved to France, on the condition they remove the communist elements from their government – a condition they quickly complied with.