alan greenspan

I was born March 6, 1926. I am an American economist and was Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve of the United States from 1987 to 2006. Following my retirement as Fed chairman, I accepted an honorary (unpaid) position at HM Treasury in the United Kingdom.I was first appointed Fed chairman by President Ronald Reagan in August 1987, then reappointed at successive four-year intervals until retiring on January 31, 2006, at which time I relinquished the chairmanship to Ben Bernanke. I was lauded for my handling of the Black Monday stock market crash that occurred very shortly after I first became chairman, as well as for my stewardship of the Internet-driven, "dot-com" economic boom of the 1990s. However, this expansion culminated in a stock market bubble burst in March 2000 followed by a recession in 2001–2002.From 2001 until my retirement, I was increasingly criticized for some statements seen as overstepping the Fed's traditional purview of monetary policy, and others viewed as overly supportive of the policies of President George W. Bush, as well as for policies seen as leading to a housing bubble. I was nonetheless still generally considered during that time to be the leading authority on American domestic economic and monetary policy, and my active influence continues to this day