Abstract: From July 1940 until his death in April 1946, Keynes returned to the Treasury to work on wartime and post-war issues, including several visits to the USA between 1941 and 1946. Keynes contributed to the plans made for the post-war international order in three principal ways. First, he played a leading role in the creation of the Bretton Woods institutions: the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to maintain stable but adjustable exchange rates and facilitate balance of payments adjustment, and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD, or World Bank). Second, he negotiated the settlement of Britain’s Lend-Lease obligation to the USA, and a US loan to help Britain through its immediate post-war balance of payments difficulties. Third, he played a role in Anglo-American discussions resulting in publication of US proposals on trade and employment at the same time as the loan in December 1945. Arising from negotiations, these measures embodied, albeit imperfectly, Keynes’s liberal vision for the post-war international economy, especially his desire to lay an economic basis for a durable peace through ‘international government in economic affairs’ based on Anglo-American cooperation.

Keywords: internal war finance, external finance, loans, international monetary relations, post-war commercial policy, Germany,