Leo T. Crowley (1889-1972) was the second Chairman of the FDR formed Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)). Prior to FDR there was no FDIC - you and your bank were on tenuous ground, and if the bank failed well . . . . .best of luck/don't forget to write if you get work/shut the door on your way out - simple as that.

But Wall Street, the collapse of the banking system and the Depression managed to change all that. And the FDIC came into existence within the first hundred days of the Roosevelt Administration.

As part of a "Meet Your Government" radio series, Crowley gives a little talk/interview in 1939.

Now to be fair, history is not always exciting and cliff-hanging and explosive. It is sometimes, well . . . dull as dirt. BUT it's important to get an idea who some of the players were in the events that more or less changed the course of history. Crowley wasn't a dynamic or emotional speaker. One could say that his vocal approach could be a good cure for insomnia. But it's the words and the ideas that count. And I promise I'll do something a little more high-voltage shortly!

"Creation of the National Banking System, establishment of the Federal Reserve System and similar measures, were all enacted in the interest of safety and stability.

Yet the thousands of bank failures and the ultimate collapse of our banking system during the early 1930's indicated the need for a more realistic and general approach to our banking problem. Creation of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation was one of the first steps to meet that need in 1933"