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In June 1913, President Woodrow Wilson confronts a legislative deadlock over terms to define a new Federal Reserve Bank for the United States. The recent Panic of 1907 triggered a major civic reaction that sought to dispense with a 100-year-old antipathy to central banking. Now, Wilson must decide how best to harness the civic reaction in framing a new central bank. Wilson's dilemma occurs in the midst of a dramatic regime shift in American politics. The rise of Populists and Progressive politicians in reaction to the rapid transformation of America in the Gilded Age marks 1913 as a historic pivot point. It is useful to consider how the Panic of 1907 contributed to that pivot and how the public subsequently reacted to the panic.