President Franklin D. Roosevelt watched by the Secretary of the Treasury, William Woodin (1868 - 1934) as he signs the Emergency Banking Bill which makes him a virtual financial 'dictator' of the United States.
Gallery of William Woodin
The first photograph of United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt with his cabinet, March 1933. On the President's left (L to R): William H. Woodin (Secretary of the Treasury), Homer Stille Cummings (Attorney General), Claude A. Swanson (Secretary of the Navy), Henry A. Wallace (Secretary of Agriculture) and Frances Perkins (Secretary of Labour); on his right (L to R): Daniel Calhoun Roper (Secretary of Commerce), Harold L. Ickes (Secretary of the Interior), James A. Farley (Postmaster-General), George H. Dern (Secretary of War) and Cordell Hull (Secretary of State).
Gallery of William Woodin
Left to right seated: Secretary of War George H. Dern, Secretary of State Cordell Hull, President Roosevelt, Secretary of the Treasury William Hartman Woodin, and Attorney General Homer S. Cummings. Standing from left to right: Secretary of Agriculture Henry A. Wallce, Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes, Secretary of the Navy Claude A. Swanson, Postmaster General James Farley, Secretary of Commerce Daniel C. Roper, and Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins.
Gallery of William Woodin
Washington, DC: New Money For United States. The Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Washington, D. C. is working night and day printing new currency in denominations from $1 to $10,000, following the proclamation issued by president CD after the banks had closed. This new currency is backed by Government bonds and other sound securities. Above, photo shows left-to-right: Jesse E. Swigart, Assistant Director in charge of production at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing; Clark R. Long, Assistant Director; J. H. Douglas, Assistant Treasury Secretary; William H. Woodin, Secretary of the Treasury; and Alvin W. Hall, Director of the Bureau, in the Bureau of Engraving and Printing.
Gallery of William Woodin
Arthur Ballantine, Under-Secretary of Treasury; William Woodin, Treasury Secretary, and G. W. Davidson, New York banker (L to R) standing on the White House steps.
Gallery of William Woodin
Secretary Woodin Seems Well Pleased with Money Production. Washington, D.C.: Left to right: James H. Douglas, Asst. Secretary of the U.S. Treasury, William Woodin, Sec. of the treasury and Alvin W. Hall, director of U.S. Bureau of engraving and printing, rather pleased at the production of the new currency, when they inspected the first output of bills which has kept the bureau busy for several days. The bureau turned out $2,000,000,000 in currency to supplement the bills in circulation prior to the bank holiday. This is one of the first pictures made in the bureau of engraving and printing in many years.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt watched by the Secretary of the Treasury, William Woodin (1868 - 1934) as he signs the Emergency Banking Bill which makes him a virtual financial 'dictator' of the United States.
The first photograph of United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt with his cabinet, March 1933. On the President's left (L to R): William H. Woodin (Secretary of the Treasury), Homer Stille Cummings (Attorney General), Claude A. Swanson (Secretary of the Navy), Henry A. Wallace (Secretary of Agriculture) and Frances Perkins (Secretary of Labour); on his right (L to R): Daniel Calhoun Roper (Secretary of Commerce), Harold L. Ickes (Secretary of the Interior), James A. Farley (Postmaster-General), George H. Dern (Secretary of War) and Cordell Hull (Secretary of State).
Left to right seated: Secretary of War George H. Dern, Secretary of State Cordell Hull, President Roosevelt, Secretary of the Treasury William Hartman Woodin, and Attorney General Homer S. Cummings. Standing from left to right: Secretary of Agriculture Henry A. Wallce, Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes, Secretary of the Navy Claude A. Swanson, Postmaster General James Farley, Secretary of Commerce Daniel C. Roper, and Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins.
Washington, DC: New Money For United States. The Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Washington, D. C. is working night and day printing new currency in denominations from $1 to $10,000, following the proclamation issued by president CD after the banks had closed. This new currency is backed by Government bonds and other sound securities. Above, photo shows left-to-right: Jesse E. Swigart, Assistant Director in charge of production at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing; Clark R. Long, Assistant Director; J. H. Douglas, Assistant Treasury Secretary; William H. Woodin, Secretary of the Treasury; and Alvin W. Hall, Director of the Bureau, in the Bureau of Engraving and Printing.
Arthur Ballantine, Under-Secretary of Treasury; William Woodin, Treasury Secretary, and G. W. Davidson, New York banker (L to R) standing on the White House steps.
Secretary Woodin Seems Well Pleased with Money Production. Washington, D.C.: Left to right: James H. Douglas, Asst. Secretary of the U.S. Treasury, William Woodin, Sec. of the treasury and Alvin W. Hall, director of U.S. Bureau of engraving and printing, rather pleased at the production of the new currency, when they inspected the first output of bills which has kept the bureau busy for several days. The bureau turned out $2,000,000,000 in currency to supplement the bills in circulation prior to the bank holiday. This is one of the first pictures made in the bureau of engraving and printing in many years.
William Hartman Woodin was secretary of the Treasury from March 4, 1933, to December 31, 1933. Under the provisions of the original Federal Reserve Act, the Treasury Secretary was also ex-officio chairman of the Federal Reserve Board.
Background
Woodin was born on 27 May 1868 in Berwick, Pennsylvania, a coal mining and iron manufacturing area. He was the son of Clemuel Ricketts Woodin and Mary Louise Dickerman. Since 1835 his family had been active in operating an iron forge in the region, and William Woodin was expected to follow in the family business.
Education
To secure a good education for Woodin, his father sent him to the Woodbridge School in New York City and then to the School of Mines at Columbia University. Woodin was restless, however, and left there in 1890 without earning a degree.
William Hartman Woodin served as the Secretary of Treasury under Franklin Roosevelt in 1933. He was closely involved in Jackson and Woodin Manufacturing Company. Jackson & Woodin grew under this combined leadership to become the largest railroad car builder in the eastern United States and was one of the 13 companies that merged in 1899 to form American Carolina and Foundry Company (American Car and Foundry).
Woodin worked up through American Car and Foundry management to become president in 1916. He was a director of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York from 1927 through 1932.
As Will Woodin, he collaborated with children"s author Johnny Gruelle, composing music for the 1930 book Raggedy Ann"s Sunny Songs and was the namesake of Gruelle's character Little Wooden Willie.
In 1933, Woodin composed a march in honor of Roosevelt. Woodin was a Republican businessman and was a major contributor to Roosevelt's campaign in 1932. Woodin served as the Treasury Secretary from March 4, 1933, until he resigned effective December 31, 1933.
Because of his poor health, for some weeks in 1933 Treasury Under-Secretary Dean Acheson served as the Acting Secretary of the Treasury.
Woodin was involved in major decisions that the new Roosevelt administration made to combat the Great Depression. On March 4, 1933, when Roosevelt first took the oath of office, banks were closing their doors all over the United States as waves of panic led depositors to demand immediate payment of their money.
Woodin was the point man in the administration's declaration of a "Bank Holiday" which closed every bank in the United States. until bank examiners could determine which were sound enough to re-open. With "seals of approval" from the examiners, depositors regained confidence, and the vast majority left their money in bank deposits.
This preceded the creation of deposit insurance and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation with the passage of the Glass-Steagall Acting of 1933 to foster trust in banks which is essential to the entire financial system.
Woodin also presided over the Roosevelt Administration"s withdrawal from the international monetary conference in London and the decision to take the United States off the international gold standard there. While he was the Secretary of the Treasury, the Administration also began the decision-making process that eventually led to the administration"s decision to buy all the gold in private hands in the United States (other than that used by dentists and jewelers) and then to raise the dollar price of gold, devaluing the dollar against gold. Treasury Under Secretary Dean Acheson opposed Franklin Delano Roosevelt on the latter two decisions and was forced to resign in November 1933.
A fellow trustee of the Warm Springs Foundation, William Hartman Woodin was a close personal friend of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and though previously a Republican, he gave Roosevelt his active support in the presidential campaign of 1932, after the election becoming one of the inner circle of Roosevelt's advisers. Though he belonged to the conservative school that viewed with mistrust some of the financial policies of the Roosevelt Administration, his personal relations with the President remained as warm as ever.
Membership
Woodin was a member of the Union League Club of New York.
Personality
An unusual combination of businessman and artist, Woodin was exceedingly fond of music and although he had little theoretical knowledge became an amateur composer of some note. His favorite instrument was the guitar and his compositions included suites, songs, and waltzes. Some of his children's pieces were published as Raggedy Ann's Sunny Songs, in December 1930; other works were "A Norwegian Rhapsody," "The Fire Chief, and the "Franklin Delano Roosevelt March," played at his friend's inauguration. Woodin was also a numismatist and a collector of Cruikshank's drawings.
Woodin was an avid coin collector and when gold was withdrawn from private hands, he made certain that an exception was put in place for "rare or unusual" coins.
Interests
guitar
Connections
William Woodin married Annie Jessup on 9 October 1889. They had three daughters Mary, Annie Jessup, Elizabeth Foster and a son, William Hartman Woodin.