Which U.S. president was in office when the Panic of 1907 triggered a Wall Street banking crisis?

Theodore Roosevelt was president when the Panic of 1907 triggered a Wall Street banking crisis.

The panic began after a failed attempt to corner the stock of United Copper Company. When the scheme collapsed, depositors rushed to withdraw funds from institutions connected to the speculators. The trouble spread through trust companies and threatened broader financial stability in New York.

The United States had no central bank at the time. Financier J. P. Morgan therefore played a prominent private role, organizing emergency lending and persuading banks to cooperate. The crisis eventually helped build support for creating a central banking system.

The Federal Reserve Act was passed in 1913, four years after Roosevelt left office. William Howard Taft was president when the act was signed, so Taft is sometimes incorrectly associated with the panic itself. Roosevelt’s administration, however, was the one in office during the 1907 market emergency.