Former Fed Chair Alan Greenspan Dies at 100

Alan Greenspan, the former Federal Reserve chairman who presided over a historic era of American economic growth and later faced criticism for his role in the policies preceding the 2008 financial crisis, died on Monday at his home. He was 100. His wife, NBC News correspondent Andrea Mitchell, said the cause was complications from Parkinson’s disease.

Greenspan served five terms as Fed chairman, from August 1987 until his retirement in January 2006, a tenure second only in length to that of William McChesney Martin Jr. Appointed by President Ronald Reagan, he remained in the role under Presidents George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush. He was widely celebrated as the "Maestro" and the "Oracle" for his perceived mastery of monetary policy and his influence over global markets.

His nearly 19-year tenure encompassed the "Great Moderation," a period marked by low inflation, strong growth, and the longest economic expansion in U.S. history at the time, which ran from March 1991 to March 2001. He guided the Fed through the 1987 stock market crash, the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s, and the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. He was known for his cryptic,...