Carter Glass
The Virginia newspaperman who, as a powerful senator, built the bedrock of America's modern financial system with the Federal Reserve and FDIC.
1858–1946 (age 88)·American politician·Birthday: January 4
Biography
Carter Glass was a wiry, combative figure from Lynchburg, Virginia, who wielded a typesetter's precision and a partisan's ferocity in shaping American finance. A self-made newspaper publisher, he carried his editor's skepticism of concentrated power into Congress. As Chairman of the House Banking Committee, he was the principal draftsman of the 1913 Federal Reserve Act, creating the nation's central banking system—though he fought bitterly with President Wilson over its final, more centralized form. Later, as a long-serving Senator, his innate conservatism made him a reluctant but crucial player in the New Deal. While he despised much of Franklin Roosevelt's agenda, his Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 established the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and erected a wall between commercial and investment banking, reforms that defined financial stability for decades. He remained a staunch fiscal hawk and segregationist until his death, a complex architect of systems meant to both enable and restrain.
#1 When Carter Was Born
The biggest hits of 1858
Carter's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1858Born
1863Started school
President: Abraham Lincoln
1871Became a teenager
President: Ulysses S. Grant
1874Could drive
President: Ulysses S. Grant
1876Could vote
President: Ulysses S. Grant
1879Turned 21
President: Rutherford B. Hayes
1888Turned 30
President: Grover Cleveland
1898Turned 40
Spanish-American War; US emerges as a world power
President: William McKinley
1908Turned 50
Ford Model T goes into production
President: Theodore Roosevelt
1918Turned 60
World War I ends; Spanish flu pandemic kills millions
President: Woodrow Wilson
1928Turned 70
Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin; Mickey Mouse debuts
President: Calvin Coolidge"Ol' Man River" — Paul WhitemanBest Picture: Wings
1938Turned 80
Kristallnacht and the escalation toward WWII
Gas: $0.20/galHome: $2,850Min wage: $0.25/hrPresident: Franklin D. Roosevelt"Begin the Beguine" — Artie ShawBest Picture: You Can't Take It with You
1946Died at 88
United Nations holds its first General Assembly
Gas: $0.21/galHome: $5,150Min wage: $0.40/hrPresident: Harry S. Truman"Prisoner of Love" — Perry ComoBest Picture: The Best Years of Our Lives
Key Achievements
- Was the primary legislative architect of the Federal Reserve Act of 1913.
- Co-sponsored the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933, which created the FDIC and separated commercial and investment banking.
- Served as the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury under President Woodrow Wilson from 1918 to 1920.
- Represented Virginia in the U.S. Senate for 26 years, becoming President pro tempore and a powerful committee chairman.
Did You Know?
He never attended college, learning the newspaper trade from the ground up as a printer's assistant.
He was offered the vice-presidential nomination in 1920 but refused it.
The main federal office building for the Treasury Department in Washington, D.C., is named the Carter Glass Building.
He was a vehement opponent of women's suffrage and the New Deal, despite his key role in the FDIC.
“The Federal Reserve System is the negation of democracy; it is a system of financial absolutism.”
