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 of **23 December 1913**. Gold convertibility would fail in war the next year; that is a separate break.