Robert Owen and the Creation of the Federal Reserve

Born in Virginia and raised by his mother in the Cherokee Nation, Robert Owen was a seminal figure in Oklahoma’s early history. He was elected as one of Oklahoma’s first U.S. senators in 1907 where he championed progressive and populist causes in the nation’s capital. Utilizing his background as a bank owner in Muskogee, he was the Senate author of the Federal Reserve Act of 1913, which created the financial system still in use today. In this episode, Trait Thompson and Dr. Blackburn talk to Dr. Ken Brown, a former professor at the University of Central Oklahoma and an expert on Owen, about his life and his work creating the Federal Reserve.