Bretton Woods

The Bretton Woods system of monetary management established the rules for commercial and financial relations among the world's major industrial states in the mid 20th century. The Bretton Woods system was the first example of a fully negotiated monetary order intended to govern monetary relations among independent nation-states. Jul'1944. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bretton_Woods_system

• While it initially provided monetary stability and facilitated economic growth, it placed a heavy reliance on the U.S. dollar as the central reserve currency. This gave the United States considerable influence over the international financial system and allowed it to run persistent trade deficits and budget deficits with fewer immediate consequences than other nations.

IMF, World Bank, Exchange Rate system.

Effectively ended when the US dropped off the Gold Standard in 1971. The end of Bretton Woods was formally ratified by the Jamaica Accords in 1976.