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June 1989, No. 22

Woodrow Wilson's 1913 observation on the passage of the Federal Reserve Act is surprisingly apt in 1989: "We shall deal with our economic system as it is and as it may be modified, not as it might be if we had a clean sheet of paper to write upon, and step by step we shall make it what it should be."

Last Updated: 06/30/1989

Seventy-five Years

Christine Pavel

The Federal Reserve System, including the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and its peers across the country, has never had "a clean sheet of paper to write upon." Instead it has had from  the beginning to respond to an evolving financial and economic system. As the Bank celebrates its 75th anniversary, a look back at this continuing process may be useful.