December 23, 2013: The Federal Reserve System Is Established

December 23, 2013: The Federal Reserve System is established, with the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act. The U.S. House of Representatives passed it on September 18, and the Senate passed it on December 18. On December 22, a conference committee settled the differences, and the House passed it 298-60. The next day, the Senate passed it 43-25, and President Woodrow Wilson signed it into law.

The Federal Reserve Act created a system of private and public entities. There were to be at least eight and no more than twelve private regional Federal Reserve banks. Twelve were established, and each had various branches, a board of directors, and district boundaries.

The Federal Reserve Board, consisting of seven members, was created as the governing body of the Fed. Each member is appointed by the U.S. president and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. In 1935, the Board was renamed and restructured. Also created as part of the Federal Reserve System was a 12-member Federal Advisory Committee and a single new United States currency, the Federal Reserve Note.

The Federal Reserve Act created a national currency and a monetary system that could respond effectively to the stresses in the banking system and create a stable financial system. The goal of the system was to ensure that there would always be a supply of money and credit in times of financial strain.

The 12 branches, with letters on the front side (since 1996, only on $1 bills, but on all of them before that), are as follows:

* A: Boston, covering the 6 New England States: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut. Since 1977, it has been headquartered in a 32-story tower at 600 Atlantic Avenue.

* B: New York, covering the State of New York, the northern half of New Jersey, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Since 1924, it has been headquartered at 33 Liberty Street in Lower Manhattan.

* C: Philadelphia, covering the eastern two-thirds of Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey, and Delaware. Since 1979, it has been headquartered at 10 Independence Mall, on the north side of Arch Street between 6th and 7th Streets.

* D: Cleveland, covering Ohio, the western third of Pennsylvania, and the eastern half of Kentucky. Since 1923, it has been headquartered at 6th and Superior Streets.

* E: Richmond, covering Maryland, the District of Columbia, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina. Since 1978, it has been headquartered at 701 East Byrd Street.

* F: Atlanta, covering Georgia, Florida, Alabama, the eastern two-thirds of Tennessee, and the southern halves of Mississippi and New Orleans. Since 2001, it has been headquartered at 1000 Peachtree Street NE.

* G: Chicago, covering the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, the northern two-thirds of Indiana, the northern half of Illinois, the southern two-thirds of Wisconsin, and all of Iowa. Since 1922, it has been headquartered at 230 South LaSalle Street.

* H: St. Louis, covering the eastern half of Missouri, the southern half of Illinois, the southern third of Indiana, the western third of Kentucky, the western third of Tennessee, the northern half of Mississippi, and all of Arkansas. Since 1924, it has been headquartered at 411 Locust Street.

* I: Minneapolis, covering Minnesota, the northern third of Wisconsin, the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and all of North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana. Since 1997, it has been headquartered at 90 Hennepin Avenue.

* J: Kansas City, covering the western half of Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Colorado, Wyoming, and the northern half of New Mexico. Since 2008, it has been headquartered at 1 Memorial Drive.

* K: Dallas, covering Texas, the northern half of Louisiana, and the southern half of New Mexico. Since 1992, it has been headquartered at 2200 Pearl Street.

* L: San Francisco, California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Alaska, Hawaii, and the U.S.' Pacific territories. Since 1983, it has been headquartered at 101 Market Street.

"The Fed" as a whole is headquartered at the Marriner S. Eccles Building, which opened in 1937 at 2051 Constitution Avenue NW in Washington. Eccles was Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board from 1937 to 1948, and the building was named in his memory in 1982.

There are those who believe The Fed is evil. That its establishment was the worst thing that ever happened to this country. That its creation, all by itself, is enough to make Wilson the worst President int he nation's history.

There are even those who believe that The Fed had President John F. Kennedy assassinated, because of an Executive Order that JFK signed that curtailed its power. This people have not thought this conspiracy theory through. On June 4, 1963, JFK signed Executive Order 11110. It allowed the Secretary of the Treasury to issue silver certificates during a transition period. The order was intended to help eliminate silver certificates, and use Federal Reserve Notes. In other words, it didn't curtail The Fed's power, it increased it. Therefore, if The Fed had any say in whether JFK lived or died, it was in their best interest that he live out his term, and even be re-elected in 1964.

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December 23, 2013 was a Tuesday. Baseball was out of season. Professional football and basketball barely existed. There were no college football games played that day. There was no hockey, either: The National Hockey Association season began 4 days later, and the Pacific Coast Hockey Association, while already underway, had no games scheduled. So there were no scores on this historic day.