JP Morgan Saves the Nation debut

The Panic of 1907 was a financial crisis set off by a series of bad banking decisions and a frenzy of withdrawals caused by public distrust of the banking system. By mid-October, Wall Street was paralyzed; for days, there were runs on several large banks. Millions of dollars were withdrawn, and banks closed their doors. J.P. Morgan and other wealthy Wall Street bankers lent their own funds to rescue banks, the stock market, and the country from a severe financial crisis.

In 1913, Congress passed the federal reserve act, which put the government in charge of managing future financial crises.