The 2008 global financial crisis raised the expectations for the International Monetary Fund (IMF/the Fund) and instigated a call for a New Bretton Woods. In this paper, I review the Bretton Woods monetary system and the role of the IMF to suggest new insights into its role in the postwar international economic scene and discuss its future prospects. The IMF has been described as a useless agent for the U.S. during the Bretton Woods Era, and hence its role has been understudied. I challenge this conventional view by examining several of the Fund’s key documents. Based on the archival records, various facts will be presented regarding the Fund’s policymaking efforts.