The day after becoming president in 1933, Franklin Roosevelt called for this—a temporary closure of all banks while they were investigated by federal examiners. In this time, Congress passed the Emergency Banking Act of 1933. When banks reopened depositors stood in line to return their stashed cash to neighborhood banks. On March 15, 1933, the first day of trading after the extended closure, the New York Stock Exchange recorded the largest one-day percentage price increase ever. With the benefit of hindsight, this action ended the bank runs that had plagued the Great Depression and signaled the vigorous executive action associated with Roosevelt's New Deal.
