Greenspan Appointed To Federal Reserve Board; Obama Signs Ronald Reagan Centennial Commission Act: Today In History

June 2, 2017, is the 153rd day of the year, with 212 days remaining. The moon is in a waxing gibbous phase, with illumination at 60 percent.

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The Ronald Reagan Centennial Commission Act

Five months into his first term as America’s 44th president, Barack Obama, joined by former First Lady Nancy Reagan, signed legislation that created the Ronald Reagan Centennial Commission.

The signing took place in the Diplomatic Room of the White House in 2009. Together, Obama and Reagan announced the occasion as a step toward planning a 2011 celebration of the 100th anniversary of President Reagan’s birth.

Alan Greenspan goes to Washington

In 1987, President Ronald Reagan announced the nomination of Alan Greenspan as chairman of the Federal Reserve Board. The announcement came after Reagan informed the public that his first choice, Paul Volcker, had declined a third term as both a member and chairman of the board. The appointment was met with criticism from Democratic leaders of Congress regarding Greenspan’s support for Social Security privatization and tax cuts, which those leaders believed would increase the national deficit.

Almost three years after stepping down as chairman of the Federal Reserve, Greenspan admitted that he had put too much faith in the self-correcting power of free markets and that he had failed to anticipate the self-destructive power of willful mortgage lending.

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Photo credit: Federal Reserve