— Ch. 1 · The Clarinet And The Economy —
Alan Greenspan.
~4 min read · Ch. 1 of 7
Alan Greenspan was born on the 6th of March 1926 in the Washington Heights area of New York City. His father Herbert worked as a stockbroker while his mother Rose came from a Hungarian Jewish family. He attended George Washington High School where he played clarinet and saxophone alongside Stan Getz. A spot on his lung kept him from serving in World War II during 1944. He studied clarinet at Juilliard from 1943 to 1944 before earning an economics degree from NYU in 1948. His bandmates included Leonard Garment who later became Richard Nixon's special counsel. This musical background shaped his early life before he entered the world of finance.
Eighteen Years At The Fed
President Ronald Reagan nominated Alan Greenspan for the Federal Reserve chairmanship on the 2nd of June 1987. The Senate confirmed him on the 11th of August 1987 after he served as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under Gerald Ford. He held this position until the 31st of January 2006 when Ben Bernanke took over. Two months after confirmation he stated that the Fed would serve as a source of liquidity following the 1987 stock market crash. Bill Clinton reappointed him while George H.W. Bush attributed his election loss to sluggish responses. Democrats criticized him for politicizing the office through support of Social Security privatization. He never gave broadcast interviews between 1987 and 2005 despite being called a rock star by observers.