Which U.S. president signed the Emergency Banking Act during the financial crisis surrounding the 1933 bank holiday?

Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Emergency Banking Act during the financial crisis surrounding the 1933 bank holiday. The law was enacted soon after Roosevelt took office during the final phase of the Great Depression’s banking panic.

Roosevelt declared a nationwide bank holiday in March 1933, temporarily closing banks so officials could inspect their finances. The Emergency Banking Act gave the federal government tools to reopen solvent banks and reorganize or close institutions that could not safely resume operations.

The law was part of a broader response to the banking crisis, not a direct stock-market rescue. Thousands of banks had failed or suspended operations since 1929, and public withdrawals had intensified pressure on the financial system. Roosevelt explained the policy in his first fireside chat.

The act is sometimes confused with the Glass–Steagall Act, passed later in 1933. The Emergency Banking Act dealt with immediate stabilization, while Glass–Steagall created longer-term banking reforms, including deposit insurance through the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.