Only 2 short days after his inauguration, President FDR implemented a bank holiday. This would close all banks in the United States for four days. The reasoning behind this were the high amount of banks that were running out of currency (paper money) to give to customers.
Considering that the economy was taking a turn for the worse daily, people wanted to get their money out of banks immediately. However the bank did not have enough money to give to all these individuals coming in at one time. This was due to a series of bad loans given out to individuals who could not pay the banks back.
Roosevelt's goal in closing banks was to give currency to them so that when they reopen they would not be forced to close again. Along with this, the federal government investigated what banks were spending/loaning money recklessly. These banks would then be monitored by the federal government for an extended period of time.
