One Man Who Once Served as a Central Bank
In 1907 a financial panic broke out in America — bank runs, a collapsing stock market — and at the time the country had no central bank to come to the rescue. The aging Morgan summoned the leading bankers of New York to his study, and, it is said, locked the door and demanded they pool their funds to save the market, leading the way with his own money. The crisis was finally brought under control. A private banker, with his personal prestige and wealth, played the role of "lender of last resort" — and it was precisely this event that made Americans keenly feel the need for a formal central bank. Six years later, the Federal Reserve was born.