J. P. Morgan is credited with organizing emergency support during the Panic of 1907.
The panic began after an unsuccessful attempt to corner the stock of United Copper Company. The failure spread distrust through trust companies and banks, especially after depositors began withdrawing funds. The crisis reached a dangerous point when the Knickerbocker Trust Company failed in New York.
Morgan, already one of the most powerful financiers in the United States, gathered bankers in his library and pressed them to provide loans and commitments. He also helped arrange support for financially troubled institutions and worked with government officials to preserve confidence. His intervention helped prevent a broader collapse, although the episode caused substantial economic damage.
The Panic of 1907 exposed the weakness of a banking system without a central bank able to act as lender of last resort. Congress later created the National Monetary Commission, whose work contributed to the Federal Reserve Act of 1913. Morgan did not single-handedly solve every part of the crisis, but his coordinated private response became its best-known feature.