J. P. Morgan helped organize the 1907 rescue that stopped a major Wall Street panic.
The Panic of 1907 began after a failed attempt to corner shares of United Copper Company. The failure damaged confidence in trust companies, and depositors rushed to withdraw funds. The crisis spread through New York’s financial system while the United States lacked a central bank able to provide emergency liquidity in the modern manner.
Morgan gathered bankers in his library and pressed them to supply funds and coordinate support. He also helped arrange assistance for the New York City government, which faced difficulty meeting its obligations. The panic eventually subsided, but it exposed weaknesses in the American banking system.
The episode helped build support for the Federal Reserve System, created in 1913. Morgan did not single-handedly control every rescue decision, but his leadership was central to the private response that stabilized the market.