Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Emergency Banking Act during the banking crisis at the start of the 1930s market collapse.
Roosevelt became president on March 4, 1933, when thousands of U.S. banks had already failed or faced runs. He declared a national bank holiday shortly afterward, temporarily closing banks while the government reviewed their condition. Congress passed the Emergency Banking Act on March 9, and Roosevelt signed it that day.
The law allowed federal authorities to inspect banks and reopen those considered financially sound. It also expanded federal control over banking and supported measures intended to restore confidence. Roosevelt explained the banking situation in his first radio “fireside chat,” helping the administration communicate directly with the public.
The act did not itself cause the 1929 stock-market crash; that crash had begun years earlier under President Herbert Hoover. Instead, the legislation addressed the later banking emergency that deepened the Great Depression and followed the market collapse.