President · 1856–1924
Woodrow Wilson
On 23 December 1913 he signed the Federal Reserve Act.
The Act created regional Federal Reserve Banks and a federal board. Member banks could discount commercial paper and receive Reserve notes. The public brief was elastic currency and a lender of last resort, so a scramble like 1907 would not depend on one private rescue.
The signature is the statute. It is not the 1914 suspension of gold convertibility, and it is not the 1971 gold-window close.