sury. As a consequence, the federal government was
about to withdraw Salomon’s trading privileges,
which would have led to bankruptcy. However, after
a direct appeal from Warren Buffett, Salomon’s larg-
est investor, Greenspan spared the bank this fate. In
1992, Greenspan was elected to his second term as
chairman of the Federal Reserve after being nomi-
nated by George H. W. Bush. Despite his Republican
background, Greenspan was reelected in 1996 and
2000 by the Bill Clinton administration.
Greenspan is renowned for his goal of zero infla-
tion. In 1994, when he was engineering a series of
interest-rate increases, he was subjected to much
criticism for being willing to sacrifice economic
growth in pursuit of this unobtainable goal. How-
ever, in 1998 inflation hit an eleven-year low, unem-
ployment was at a twenty-four-year low, and con-
sumer confidence was higher than any other period
in the past three decades.
The following year, he crossed paths with John
Meriwether again, who at this time was running
Long-Term Capital Management. The hedge fund
was facing a liquidity crisis, having lost $4.6 billion in
less than four months. The fund was one of the larg-
est of its kind, and it was feared that its collapse could
have triggered a stock market crash. Greenspan in-
tervened and brokered a deal with the creditors.
Subsequently, the stock market continued to climb
and culminated in the stock market crash in 2000,
bursting the dot-com bubble. Many have come to
blame Greenspan for his intervention, believing
that a stock market correction in 1998 would have
prevented the crash of 2000.
Greenspan also served on the boards of many
companies, including Alcoa, Automatic Data Pro-
cessing, Capital Cities/ABC, General Foods, J. P.
Morgan, Morgan Guaranty Trust Company of New
York, Mobil Corporation, and the Pittston Company.
Impact Greenspan was often cited as being the sec-
ond most powerful man in the United States during
the 1990’s after the president. His monetary policy
led to the longest sustained bull market in recent his-
tory and a housing boom across North America.
Further Reading
Greenspan, Alan.The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in
a New World. New York: Penguin Books, 2007.
Hartcher, Peter.Bubble Man: Alan Greenspan and the
Missing Seven Trillion Dollars. New York: W. W.
Norton, 2006.
Martin, Justin.Greenspan: The Man Behind Money.
Cambridge, Mass.: Perseus Books, 2001.
Rikard BandeboSee also Buffett, Warren; Bush, George H. W.;
Business and the economy in the United States; Dot-
coms; Recession of 1990-1991; Stock market. Griffey, Ken, Jr.
Identification Professional baseball player
Born November 21, 1969; Donora, Pennsylvania
Griffey won four American League home run titles and
ten straight Gold Glove Awards (1990-1999) in the
1990’s.
Ken Griffey, Jr., son of former major-league out-
fielder Ken Griffey, Sr., was drafted first overall by
the Seattle Mariners in 1987. He hit a double in his
major-league debut on April 3, 1989, and hit a home
run off his first pitch at the Seattle Kingdome. The
six-foot, three-inch, 205-pound Griffey, who bats and
throws left-handed, became in 1990 the first Mariner
ever selected to the starting lineup of the All-Star
Game. His father joined Seattle that August, the first
time a father-son duo played simultaneously on the
same major-league team.
The younger Griffey, often compared with his
idol Willie Mays, showed exceptional ability to hit
with power, run, field, and throw. In 1991, he batted
a career-high .327 with 100 runs batted in (RBIs).
Two years later, Griffey led the American League
(AL) with 359 total bases and became the fourth ma-
jor leaguer under age twenty-four to record three
consecutive seasons with at least 100 RBIs. His 45
home runs in 1993 ranked second in the AL. In July,
Griffey tied a major-league record by homering in
eight consecutive games. In 1994, he won his first AL
home run crown with 40 and finished second in slug-
ging percentage.
Griffey peaked in the late 1990’s, becoming the
fourth major leaguer to belt 40 home runs in five
straight seasons and leading the AL in home runs for
three consecutive seasons. He hit 56 home runs in
1997 and 1998 and clouted 48 home runs in 1999.
Griffey captured the AL Most Valuable Player (MVP)
honors in 1997, pacing the AL with a career-high 147
RBI and recording a career-best 185 hits. He fin-
ished third in the AL with 146 RBIs in 1998 and382 Griffey, Ken, Jr. The Nineties in America