Theodore Roosevelt was the U.S. president during the 1907 Panic that preceded the creation of the Federal Reserve.
Roosevelt was president when a failed attempt to corner the stock of United Copper Company helped trigger a run on banks and trust companies in October 1907. The crisis spread as depositors demanded cash and institutions struggled to obtain liquidity.
Financier J. P. Morgan organized private support, including emergency loans and coordinated action among New York banks. The rescue helped prevent a broader collapse, but the episode showed how dependent the United States was on private financial leadership during a panic.
The Federal Reserve was not created until 1913, under President Woodrow Wilson. A common mix-up is assigning the 1907 Panic to Wilson because of the later institutional response. Roosevelt’s administration faced the crisis; Wilson’s administration signed the Federal Reserve Act several years afterward.