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The other members of the first Board of Governors were Secretary of 

the Treasury, William McAdoo, Wilson’s son-in-law, and President of the 

Hudson-Manhattan Railroad, a Kuhn, Loeb Company controlled 

enterprise, and Comptroller of the Currency John Skelton Williams.

When the Federal Reserve Banks were opened for business on 

November 16, 1914, Paul Warburg said, "This date may be considered 

as the Fourth of July in the economic history of the United States." 

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