Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Emergency Banking Act during the banking crisis that followed the 1929 stock-market crash.
Roosevelt signed the act on March 9, 1933, shortly after taking office. The law formed part of the response to widespread bank failures and the national banking holiday. It gave the federal government tools to stabilize banks, including authority to examine institutions and reopen those judged financially sound.
The measure was passed by Congress in a highly compressed process. Roosevelt explained the banking emergency to the public in his first fireside chat on March 12, 1933, helping reassure depositors before banks reopened. The act was one of the first major financial measures of the New Deal.
The legislation did not end every problem caused by the Depression, and it was not the same as the stock-market crash itself. The crash began in 1929, while the banking emergency reached a dramatic point in 1933. Roosevelt’s action addressed confidence in banks rather than directly reversing stock prices.