Alan Greenspan, who led the Federal Reserve from 1987 to 2006, has died, according to NPR. He was 100.

Greenspan was born March 6, 1926. He became the 13th chairman of the Federal Reserve Board on August 11, 1987, under President Ronald Reagan. He continued in the role under three subsequent presidents — George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush — before leaving office in 2006. No Fed chairman in the modern era served longer.

His 18 years in office covered pivotal moments in postwar American economic life: the 1987 stock market crash, the savings and loan crisis, the dot-com boom and bust, the September 11 attacks, and the start of the housing expansion that later collapsed into the 2008 financial crisis. Though the financial crisis occurred after he left office, his interest rate decisions and approach to bank regulation faced sharp review afterward.

A Tenure Marked by Market Crises and Policy Control

Greenspan began his tenure two months before Black Monday — October 19, 1987 — when the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 22 percent in a single day. His choice to pump money into the financial system and announce that credit would remain available helped markets recover within days. It was an early, significant test of his leadership.

Throughout the 1990s, Greenspan became perhaps the most watched central banker in American history. His remarks to Congress moved markets. Traders studied his semi-annual testimony before Congress for hints about interest rate moves. His 1996 comment about "irrational exuberance" in stock prices entered common usage and still appears in discussions of asset bubbles.

Greenspan favored judgment and flexibility over strict rules. He was wary of rigid inflation targets that other central banks put in place, preferring instead to weigh many economic signals at once. That flexibility earned praise during the strong economic growth of the 1990s. After the housing market collapsed, it drew criticism. In a 2008 congressional hearing, Greenspan said he had found a "flaw" in his thinking — specifically, his belief that banks would police themselves to protect their own shareholders. It was a candid admission from someone known for carefully measured public statements.

Greenspan's reach extended well beyond the Fed. Before leading the central bank, he ran his own consulting firm and chaired the Council of Economic Advisers under President Gerald Ford. He was close to philosopher Ayn Rand and remained active in Washington policy discussions long after retiring.

Fed chairs serve four-year terms that presidents can renew. Greenspan was reappointed across four administrations. That continuity gave the institution a steady hand that successive presidents found valuable, even when they disagreed with specific rate decisions.

His legacy inside the Fed involves several layers. The economic framework he used — controlling inflation, keeping unemployment low, sustaining growth — became the standard by which later Fed chairs were judged. Ben Bernanke, who succeeded him in February 2006, inherited both the strength of that track record and unresolved weaknesses in mortgage lending that Greenspan had chosen not to address more forcefully through regulatory authority the Fed possessed.

Economists and former Fed officials will study his record for years ahead. Some questions are genuinely difficult: whether tougher action against risky subprime lending in the early 2000s would have prevented the housing bubble without causing the very recession it aimed to stop remains unclear. What is clear is how far his influence reached. For nearly two decades, Alan Greenspan was the most powerful unelected official shaping the American economy.