Theodore Roosevelt was U.S. president during the Panic of 1907, a crisis that helped inspire the Federal Reserve.
The panic began after an attempt to corner the stock of United Copper Company failed. Depositors then rushed to withdraw funds from trust companies, especially institutions connected to speculator F. Augustus Heinze and banker Charles W. Morse.
J. Pierpont Morgan organized emergency support for banks and brokerages, using private financial resources because the United States had no central bank. The New York Stock Exchange came close to a breakdown, and the Treasury also supplied funds.
The crisis led to the Aldrich–Vreeland Act of 1908 and the National Monetary Commission. Their investigations helped shape the Federal Reserve Act of 1913. Roosevelt was president when the panic occurred, although Woodrow Wilson signed the Federal Reserve Act.