| The Federal Reserve System (also the Federal Reserve; informally The Fed) is the central banking system of the United States. Created in 1913 by the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act, it is a quasi-public (part private, part government) banking system composed of the presidentially appointed Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in Washington, D.C.; the Federal Open Market Committee; 12 regional Federal Reserve Banks located in major cities throughout the nation acting as fiscal agents for the U.S. Treasury, each with its own nine-member board of directors; numerous private U.S. member banks, which subscribe to required amounts of non-transferable stock in their regional Federal Reserve Banks; and various advisory councils. Currently, Ben Bernanke serves as the Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.
The Federal Reserve Act (ch. 6, 38 Stat. 251, enacted December 23, 1913, 12 U.S.C. ch.3) is the act of Congress that created the Federal Reserve System, the central banking system of the United States of America, which was signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson.
For nearly eighty years, the U.S had been operating without a central bank after the charter for the Second Bank of the United States expired. However, after various financial panics, particularly a severe one in 1907, there was a growing consensus in the American financial community that some sort of banking and currency reform was needed which could provide a ready reserve of liquid assets in case of financial panics and would also provide for a currency that could expand and contract as the seasonal U.S. economy dictated. Some of this was chronicled in the reports of the National Monetary Commission (1909-1912), which was created by the Aldrich-Vreeland Act in 1908.
Included in a report of the Commission, submitted to Congress on January 9, 1912, were recommendations and draft legislation with 59 sections, for proposed changes in U.S. banking and currency laws. The proposed legislation was known as the Aldrich Plan, named after the chairman of the Commission, Republican Senator Nelson W. Aldrich of Rhode Island. The Plan called for a system of twelve regional central banks, known as National Reserve Associations, whose actions would be coordinated by a national board of commercial bankers. The Reserve associations would make emergency loans to member banks, create money to provide an elastic currency, and would act as fiscal agents for the U.S. government. State and nationally chartered banks would have the option of subscribing to specified stock in their regional reserve association.
Since the Aldrich Plan essentially gave full control of this system to private bankers, there was widespread opposition to it because of fears that it would become a tool of certain rich and powerful financiers in New York City, referred to as the "Money Trust." From May 1912 through January 1913 the Pujo Committee, a subcommittee of the House Committee on Banking and Currency, held investigative hearings on the alleged Money Trust and its interlocking directorates. These hearings were led by the Democrat lawyer Samuel Untermyer, who later also assisted in preparing the Federal Reserve Act.
In the election of 1912, the populist leaning Democratic Party won control of the White House and both chambers of Congress and that year's party platform stated strong opposition "to the so called Aldrich bill for the establishment of a central bank." However, the platform also called for a systematic revision of banking laws in ways that would provide relief from financial panics, unemployment, and business depression and protect the public from the "domination by what is known as the Money Trust."
The Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System is the head of the central banking system of the United States and one of the most important decision-makers of American economic policy. Known colloquially as "Chairman of the Fed", the Chairman is the "active executive officer" of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, which is an independent agency of the United States Government created by statute 12 , as part of the Federal Reserve System.
The position was essentially created in 1913 with the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act. The chairman is one of seven members of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate who have staggered terms of 14 years each. The chairman is appointed for a four-year term by the President of the United States, subject to confirmation by the Senate. In practice the chairman is often re-appointed, but can not serve longer than one 14-year term as governor, plus the time remaining in the previous unexpired term. By law, the chairman reports twice a year to Congress on the Federal Reserve's monetary policy objectives. He or she also testifies before Congress on numerous other issues, and meets periodically with the Secretary of the Treasury.
Currently, the chairman is Ben Bernanke, nominated by George W. Bush and sworn into office on February 1, 2006 for a term lasting until 2010. Bernanke succeeded Alan Greenspan, who served for more than 18 years under four U.S. Presidents
Federal Reserve System
Headquarters------- Washington, D.C.
Chairman -----Ben Bernanke
Central Bank of---- United States
Currency------ U.S. dollar
Base borrowing rate ----2.25%
Base deposit rate- 3.5%
Website- federalreserve.gov  | 
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