J. P. Morgan helped end the 1907 U.S. Panic by organizing a private rescue of banks. The panic began in October 1907 after an unsuccessful attempt to corner the stock of United Copper Company caused depositors to withdraw money from trust companies. Several financial institutions then faced runs, threatening wider instability.
Morgan, already one of the most powerful American bankers, gathered bank leaders and used his own funds and influence to provide emergency financing. He also persuaded solvent institutions to support weaker ones and helped arrange the rescue of the Knickerbocker Trust Company’s surviving operations. The crisis eased after several weeks of coordinated intervention.
The panic exposed the weakness of a banking system without a central bank. Congress later created the National Monetary Commission, whose work helped lead to the Federal Reserve Act of 1913. Morgan did not act as a government official, and the rescue was not a formal stock-market circuit breaker or public bailout.