Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the law creating the Securities and Exchange Commission after the 1929 Wall Street Crash.
The SEC was established by the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, during Roosevelt’s first presidential term. The law responded to abuses exposed by the crash and the Great Depression, including misleading disclosures, market manipulation, and weak oversight of exchanges and brokers.
The commission was part of the New Deal’s financial reforms. Its first chairman was Joseph P. Kennedy Sr., who had himself worked on Wall Street before entering public service. The SEC’s role was not to prevent every price decline; instead, it was created to enforce federal securities laws, require important company information, and supervise parts of the securities markets.
The crash began in October 1929, before Roosevelt became president in March 1933. Herbert Hoover was president when the crash occurred, a common source of confusion. Roosevelt’s administration created the SEC several years later as part of a broader effort to restore investor confidence.