This Day in Wall Street History 1932: Glass-Steagall to the rescue

In February of 1932, troubles with both gold and currency threatened to send the U.S. economy, already ravaged by the Depression, spiraling into even worse fiscal waters. As the Depression rolled along, many people stockpiled supplies of gold and cash, which created gaping shortages. Moreover, foreign governments were yanking their support for the gold standard: towards the end of 1931, the British withdrew completely from the standard. After surveying the situation with Secretary of the Treasury Ogden Mills, President Herbert Hoover declared that the "gold situation" was "critical" and worried that the U.S. faced the "immediate danger of not being able to meet foreign withdrawals which were going on at the rate of $100 million a week." Hoping to ease the situation, Hoover enlisted the aid of Representative Carter Glass, as well as a few other key legislators, who helped hammer out the Glass-Steagall Act. Passed by Congress on this day in 1932, Glass-Steagall expanded the powers of the Federal Reserve Board, thus extending credit, as well as enabling the agency to "release" some of the government's gold to business as a response to the flood of foreign withdrawals.

Source: www.history.com