"Some of our bankers had shown themselves either incompetent or dishonest in their handling of the people's funds. They had used the money entrusted to them in speculations and unwise loans. . . . It was the government's job to straighten out this situation and do it as quickly as possible, and the job is being performed."

Thus spoke U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt on March 12, 1933, in his first fireside chat on radio to the nation. Three days before, Congress, at his urging, had passed the Emergency Banking Act. Consequently, U.S. banks, closed as a result of the president's proclamation of March 6, reopened on the 13th. (FDR was only inaugurated on March 4; that's action!)

Thanks to the act, the Federal Reserve guaranteed 100 percent of the public's savings. Confidence, lost when the stock market crashed in October 1929, was back.