Which U.S. president was in office when the 1907 Panic helped inspire a central banking system?

Theodore Roosevelt was the U.S. president in office when the Panic of 1907 helped inspire a central banking system. Roosevelt served from 1901 to 1909, so the panic occurred during the final part of his presidency.

The crisis revealed how dependent the United States was on private financiers and the U.S. Treasury during a banking emergency. J. P. Morgan coordinated much of the immediate rescue, but the arrangement was improvised and could not serve as a permanent national mechanism.

After the panic, Congress created the National Monetary Commission to study banking systems in the United States and abroad. Its work contributed to the Federal Reserve Act, signed by President Woodrow Wilson in 1913.

Roosevelt therefore presided over the crisis, but Wilson signed the law that created the Federal Reserve System. Confusing those two presidents is a common error when connecting the 1907 panic with the later central-bank reform.