Person
Stewart B. McKinney
U.S. representative from Connecticut who, at a House hearing in 1984, said the Continental Illinois rescue had created a bank “called too big to fail.”
The New York Fed note records his words from page 300 of the hearing record, and notes the phrase had been in print before the hearing.
Connections 2
member of
- U.S. House of Representatives 1984 Representative; member of the House Banking Committee Primary record 1
involved in
- Rescue of Continental Illinois, 1984 used the phrase at the House hearing, in his opening statement and again at p. 300 Primary record 2
Timeline 1 date
- 1984 Stewart B. McKinney member of U.S. House of Representatives
Proof 2 sources
-
Continental Illinois National Bank: Report of an Inquiry into Its Federal Supervision and Assistance (staff report to the Subcommittee on Financial Institutions Supervision, Regulation and Insurance), U.S. House of Representatives, 1985.
Primary record
STEWART B McKINNEY. Connecticut
-
Inquiry into Continental Illinois Corp. and Continental Illinois National Bank: Hearings before the Subcommittee on Financial Institutions Supervision, Regulation and Insurance, House Committee on Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs, 98th Congress, U.S. House of Representatives, 1984.
Primary record
by creating a new class of bank in the United States of America, a TBTF—too big to fail.
Mr. Chairman, let us not bandy words. We have a new kind of bank. It is called too big to fail. TBTF, and it is a wonderful bank.
Page history 3 changes
- Second revision of Too Big to Fail: the FTC's 1917 finding, the 1952 report's seven firms, the 1984 hearing record, and corrected cards for Spirit, beef, tickets, Google and the final verdict05663c47
- Revise Too Big to Fail after the skeptic's review: read to 2 November 2026, a verdict card that separates findings from shares, the 1929 fight with its scandal and the board's stand, and sources for every cardc819f2cb
- Add the story Too Big to Fail: Standard Oil's stockholders, the phrase's origin in 1984, and market-by-market cases to November 2026aa9c434d
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