Central Banking: Then and Now

Thank you very much for that kind introduction. It is very nice indeed to be here in the Shenandoah Valley. Like Woodrow Wilson, I'm a native son of Virginia. Unlike him, I can't claim to have begun life in this magnificent Valley. But I did have the pleasure of completing my undergraduate studies not too far from here at Washington and Lee. So I feel very much at home here, and I appreciate your invitation to be with you. The theme of this conference is 'Facing Economic Issues: Clinton and Wilson.'' And this is a quite appropriate theme, because there are obvious parallels. President Clinton and the country face pressing economic problems today, many of which have been discussed by previous speakers at this conference. President Wilson also faced substantial economic challenges in his Administrations. One of President Wilson's greatest achievements—which occurred in his first year in office—was his orchestration of the difficult compromise, among a number of powerful and conflicting groups in the country, that culminated in passage of the Federal Reserve Act in December 1913 and the creation of our central bank, including its regional arms, the Federal Reserve Banks, the following year.