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Allan Greenspan: Thank you very much.
Anthony Mason: Only months after he was tapped by President Reagan to head the Federal Reserve in 1987, Alan Greenspan faced his first crisis -- the stock market crash. He calmly steered the economy through it as he's done for eighteen years.
Allan Greenspan: It's like eating peanuts here. Keep doing it, keep doing it. And you never get tired.
Allan Greenspan: The job had never been high-profile, but Greenspan has become an economic icon, serving four presidents as Fed chairman.
Bill Clinton: I knew he was a Republican, I was a Democrat. But we both believed that the debts had to be brought down. We believed in long-term fundamentals.
Anthony Mason: Through President Clinton's two terms, Greenspan presided over "the longest economic expansion in the nation's history". But he also warned of a stock market bubble with his two most famous words: irrational exuberance.
Anthony Mason: Did that concern you?
Bill Clinton: No. Because I think he, he believed it.
Anthony Mason: But when the bubble began to burst in 2000 and the 9/11 attacks then set us back again, the economy didn't collapse. Greenspan's quick moves to lower rates made sure the recession was brief.
Jack Welch: Mexican crisis, two recessions, Asian crisis, bubble, 9/11, and we're still rocking. When you think about that, you gotta say this guy did one hell of a job.
Anthony Mason: Jack Welch says while he was heading GE, Greenspan would often call up to take the temperature of the economy.
Jack Welch: He'd always want to know what does the order book look like, what does this look like, how does that feel.
Bill Clinton: That's the thing that struck me, you know, a lot of people reach a certain age, and they don't think they have many things to learn any more. Not Greenspan, he was always, always curious. And that's why he served our country so well.
Anthony Mason: And he's a saxophone player too?
Bill Clinton: Yeah, well that too. That, that, er, I liked that a lot.
Anthony Mason: Did you ever talk about the saxophone?
Bill Clinton: A Little bit, yeah. ur.. Both of us decided that if we played better, we'd have been in a different line of work. (Ha ha ...)
Anthony Mason: Greenspan's next line of work? He'll reportedly start a consulting firm. As Ben Bernanke prepares to succeed him, many are wondering whether he'll have the Greenspan touch.
Anthony Mason: Is there a risk there that we're losing his stature?
Jack Welch: I'll let you know. I mean no one is irreplaceable. But Alan Greenspan will leave a big hole, that this guy will have to work like hell to fill.
Anthony Mason: Behind the Fed's imposing columns, Alan Greenspan himself has become a Washington monument.
Anthony Mason, CBS News, New York.
EXPRESSION:
like hell
1. very much. It was raining like hell.
2. very badly. My shoulder hurt like hell.
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