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 -- just in time for the worst recession in postwar history.
The man who will now become the next chairman of the Federal Reserve Board has proved forceful and adroit in adapting to most of the roles he has played. As a conservative economist with a profound faith in the free market, Greenspan has earned the attention of thinkers in every ideological camp. As a White House official, he displayed the dedication and dexterity needed to fashion difficult political compromises. And, unlike many economists who flourish mainly in the confines of a college classroom, Greenspan scored a solid success in the corporate world. His highly profitable, 34-year-old Townsend-Greenspan consulting firm numbers among its clients some of the largest U.S. corporations.
Personally, Greenspan is something of a study in contrasts. Soft-spoken and shy, he nonetheless cuts an impressive swath on the social circuit that revolves around Manhattan's Upper East Side and Washington's Georgetown. The economist, who favors custom-made shirts and conservative suits, can be spotted at parties thrown by the likes of Fashion Designer Oscar de la Renta and Publisher Malcolm Forbes. A longtime bachelor (a one-year marriage to Artist Joan Mitchell was annulled in 1953), Greenspan once dated Television Personality Barbara Walters, who calls her former escort an "excellent dancer." His current companion is Susan Mills, a managing producer of the MacNeil-Lehrer NewsHour.
As an economist, Greenspan also resists easy classification. Though unmistakably conservative, he has never joined any of the doctrinaire factions of right-wing economics, such as the monetarists or supply-siders. He is a technical whiz who ponders computer printouts on everything from yesterday's price of steel scrap to next week's projected cost of cocoa beans. Says Frank Ikard, a former Texas Congressman who is a friend of Greenspan's: "He is the kind of person who knows how many thousands of flat-headed bolts were used in a Chevrolet and what it would do to the national economy if you took out three of them." But Greenspan can also debate larger social and political issues, a talent that eludes many of his number-crunching colleagues.
Economists who know Greenspan admire him personally and professionally. University of Minnesota Professor Walter Heller believes Greenspan has the perfect temperament for his new post. Says Heller: "He doesn't show his emotions. The Fed chairman has to have the capacity for forthright evasion and controlled obfuscation, and Alan is very good at that. ((Former Chairman)) Arthur Burns puffed on a pipe. Volcker puffed on cigars. Alan does not smoke, but when required, he can set up a nice smoke screen with words."