On this day in Alabama history: Congressman pushed through passage of banking act
Henry B. Steagall, Chariman House Banking Currency, c. 1926-1937. (Harris & Ewing, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division)
March 9, 1933
U.S. Rep. Henry B. Steagall used his position as chair of the Banking and Currency Committee to push through the Emergency Banking Act of 1933. Passed after less than an hour of debate and no amendments, the act legalized a temporary national banking holiday and deterred additional bank runs during the Great Depression. Later that same year, Steagall co-sponsored the Glass-Steagall Act, which is often credited with reducing the number of bank closings. Steagall served 15 straight terms in Congress and was posthumously inducted into the Alabama Lawyers Hall of Fame in 2015.
Read more at Encyclopedia of Alabama.
For more on Alabama’s Bicentennial, visit Alabama 200.
