The Fed in Fact and Fiction: To Whom Is It Responsible?

The Fed in Fact and Fiction: To Whom Is It Responsible?

Imbued with a salutary populist distrust of bankers, Americans only grudgingly and belatedly accepted the public need for a central bank analogous to the Bank of England and similar institutions in Western Europe. Major bank failures early in this century compelled congressional recognition, under the urging of Woodrow Wilson, that central banks could play an essential stabilizing role in guaranteeing the solvency of the country’s credit.