Which U.S. financier’s failed attempt to corner the copper market helped cause the Panic of 1907?

F. Augustus Heinze’s failed attempt to corner the copper market helped cause the Panic of 1907.

Heinze and associates tried to manipulate the stock of United Copper Company. When the plan failed in October 1907, a run developed on banks connected to Heinze and speculator Charles W. Morse. The distress spread through trust companies, which were important financial institutions but had fewer formal safeguards than national banks.

The Knickerbocker Trust Company failed on October 22, 1907, causing wider withdrawals and fear. J. P. Morgan then organized private support for endangered institutions and helped stabilize the financial system. The episode exposed weaknesses in the U.S. banking structure.

The panic contributed to the creation of the Federal Reserve System in 1913. J. P. Morgan was the rescuer, not the person whose copper-market scheme started the chain of events, while Charles Schwab was another prominent financier of the period.