1933: Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt signals that the nation's economic survival is at stake when he invokes the war powers conferred upon the presidency to take emergency action. FDR orders the nation's banks to close for the next four days to forestall panic and to prevent the hoarding of gold. The extended "bank holiday" stops the run on the banks and begins to restore public confidence.

The New York Times, March 6, 1933, p. 1;reprinted in Floyd Norris and Christine Bockelmann, The New York Times Century of Business (McGraw-Hill, New York, 2000), pp. 86-87.

1923: Montana's Old-Age Pension Law — the first state law that provides retirement pensions and stands up to constitutional challenges — is enacted, setting a key precedent for the creation of Social Security a decade later.