PROFILE: Bernanke: The face of the US financial crisis

Aug 25, 2009, 16:34 GMT

Washington - Ben Bernanke was already an academic expert on the Great Depression when he came into his current job as head of the US central bank in 2006.

More than three years later, Bernanke stands at the centre of the US government's response to the country's worst economic downturn since that 1930s crisis he knows so well.

President Barack Obama on Tuesday offered him a second term as chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, lauding his stewardship of the world's largest economy and crediting him with helping prevent a complete collapse of the financial system.

Bernanke was born on December 13, 1953, in Augusta, Georgia. The son of a pharmacist and teacher, he went on to study economics at Harvard University and received a doctorate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

It was as a professor at Princeton University for nearly 20 years that Bernanke became intimately acquainted with the Great Depression, which brought the global economy to its knees. Bernanke wrote a number of books that made him well known in economic circles.

Bernanke, a Republican, served briefly as chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers before then-president George W Bush nominated him to head the Federal Reserve in 2006.

He had big shoes to fill in succeeding long-time Fed chairman Alan Greenspan, though Greenspan's star has since faded somewhat as he presided over a period of lax regulation that led to the current financial crisis.

Bernanke was in his new post about one-and-a-half years before the US housing market began imploding, precipitating a Wall Street crisis that brought down much of the global economy. He, too, has been criticized by lawmakers for failing to heed the warning signs, though his handling of the aftermath has been lauded by most economists.

Bernanke has apparently brought a more open style to the Fed than his predecessor. A baseball fan and father of two, Bernanke can sometimes be spotted at lunchtime in the Fed's cafeteria, chatting with younger economists and employees.

Meetings of the Federal Reserve Board have reportedly become more spontaneous, with more open exchanges. Bernanke also became the first Fed chairman in 20 years to agree to a television interview, appearing on the CBS show, 60 Minutes, earlier this year.

Bernanke's reappointment will still have to be approved by the US Senate. His first term is set to expire January 31.