A Financial Shutdown and Fast-Track Legislation
President Franklin D. Roosevelt closed the banks to save them in March 1933.Â
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On Sunday, March 5, one day after his inauguration, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued a presidential proclamation closing all U.S. banks from March 6 to March 9. He was trying to prevent an escalating financial panic. The conditions for the proclamation included:
Ornate language barely concealed an economic earthquake. Depositors had mobbed banks in many states and fears of mass bankruptcies were spreading. The president's maneuver gave Congress and federal officials several precious days to draft legislation.