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On March 6, 1933, the first and only female bank president in the United States shot off a curt note to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt that would gain her national attention. "Mr. President," she wrote, "we're minding our business, you do the same. Since I do not presume to tell you how to run the country, please do not presume to tell me how to run my bank." The famous retort was in response to FDR's proclamation to close all the nation's banks as the Great Depression was culminating in a full-blown crisis. Over a four-year span, 10,000 banks in the nation had closed, and by the beginning of March 1933, millions of dollars in gold was being withdrawn and hoarded daily. By the evening of March 3, 27 states had put restrictions on bank withdrawals. On March 5, President Roosevelt declared a bank holiday, closing all banks until further notice. At that time there were 1,147 banks in Pennsylvania, and on March 6 the Battles Bank, located in Girard, was the only bank in the state and one of just a few in the country open for business. |
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