Greenspan to End 18-Year Tenure
Oct. 24, 2005 — -- When Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan's term expires on January 31, 2006, it will mark the end of the 18-year reign of one of the country's pre-eminent economists.
Greenspan became chairman of the nation's central bank in August 1987, two months before the stock market crash known as Black Monday. He was credited with moving quickly to alleviate investors' fears and was instrumental in ensuring the Federal Reserve made plenty of money available. Stocks quickly rebounded.
Greenspan continued to serve as Fed chairman under Presidents George H. W. Bush, Clinton and George W. Bush. He steered the U.S. economy through the economic boom in the 1990s and the brief recession after the turn of the century, guiding the Fed's monetary policy to avoid long-term national inflation or recessions during his tenure.
Greenspan was much revered for his economic modeling skills and a keen ability to forecast how the economy might fluctuate in the future. During his tenure, the nation experienced the longest period of economic growth in its history.
Alan Greenspan was born on March 6, 1926, in New York City, the only child of Herbert Greenspan, a stockbroker, and Rose Goldsmith Greenspan, a retail worker. His parents divorced when he was 4 years old, and he was raised mainly by his mother and his grandparents.Greenspan received a bachelor's degree in economics from NYU in 1948, graduating summa cum laude, and a master's in economics from NYU in 1950. He returned to NYU after years in government and the private sector to get a doctorate in economics in 1977. He also did advanced graduate work at Columbia University, where he studied under the influential economist Arthur Burns.
He taught economics at NYU between 1953 and 1955 and then founded the economic consulting firm Townsend & Greenspan, where he served as chairman and president from 1954 to 1974. He returned to the firm in 1977 and stayed until 1987.
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