John Maynard Keynes, then a rising young economist, participated in the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 as chief representative of the British Treasury and advisor to Prime Minister David Lloyd George. He resigned after desperately trying and failing to reduce the huge demands for reparations being made on Germany. The Economic Consequences of the Peace is Keynes' brilliant and prophetic analysis of the effects that the peace treaty would have both on Germany and, even more fatefully, the world.

This is an analysis of US economic policy and security post-war planning in the Departments of State and Treasury during World War II. The planning commenced early in the war and culminated in the conferences of Bretton Woods and Dumbarton Oaks in the summer and autumn of 1944. While both departments advocated similar goals of ensuring international economic prosperity and military security after the war, they followed different strategies to achieve these goals. The Treasury Department insisted that only states that would adhere to strict fiscal and trade rules designed to increase the volume of international commerce could join the new International Monetary Department. The State Department, in contrast, did not impose such prerequisites to any state joining the collective security structure. The book offers an explanation why the two departments differed in their approach to post-war planning.

On August 24-25, 2010, the National Defense University held a conference titled “Economic Security: Neglected Dimension of National Security?” to explore the economic element of national power. This special collection of selected papers from the conference represents the view of several keynote speakers and participants in six panel discussions. It explores the complexity surrounding this subject and examines the major elements that, interacting as a system, define the economic component of national security.

Recounts the events of the Bretton Woods accords, presents portaits of the two men at the center of the drama, and reveals Harry White's admiration for Soviet economic planning and communications with intelligence officers.