Which U.S. financier’s rescue of several banks helped end the Panic of 1907?

J. P. Morgan helped end the Panic of 1907 by organizing private support for threatened banks and trust companies.

The panic began after a failed attempt to corner the stock of United Copper Company triggered runs on trust companies. Depositors demanded cash, and confidence weakened across financial markets. The New York Stock Exchange also experienced sharp stress as credit became scarce.

Morgan gathered bankers in his library and worked to coordinate loans, asset purchases, and guarantees. His intervention helped prevent a broader collapse, but the episode exposed the United States’ lack of a central bank able to act as lender of last resort.

The crisis contributed to political support for monetary reform. The Federal Reserve System was created in 1913, several years after the panic. Morgan did not single-handedly “fix” every market problem; his role was coordinating emergency private finance at a moment when public tools were limited.