A Conservative Who Can Compromise

Greenspan is equally adept at number crunching and jawboning

Alan Greenspan has always been bold enough to make momentous changes in his life. After studying music at Manhattan's prestigious Juilliard School and touring for a year as a clarinet and saxophone player in a dance band, he decided at age 19 to forsake his musical career for college and the arcane discipline of economics. Eight years later, while studying for his Ph.D. at Columbia University, Greenspan abandoned academia to become a partner in a new consulting firm. In 1974, having never held a government position, the economist waltzed into Washington as chairman of President Gerald Ford's Council of Economic Advisers...

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