The Nation's Editorial Director Katrina vandenHeuvel tweeted Thursday that Greider understood "something all too rare in this 24-7 media world. The process of reimagining democracy requires not only real respect for the people, deep reporting, historical insight, but also patience."
Before joining The Nation in 1999, Greider was a columnist at Rolling Stone for 17 years. Before that, he was a reporter and editor at The Washington Post.
One of Greider's first well-known articles was a profile of David Stockman, President Ronald Reagan's budget director and a champion of supply-side economics. When "The Education of David Stockman" appeared in The Atlantic in 1981, his comment that "None of us really understands what's going on with all these numbers" created a White House firestorm. Stockman later said he was "taken to the woodshed" by Reagan after the article was published.
Greider's books included "Secrets of the Temple: How the Federal Reserve Runs the Country," "Who Will Tell the People? The Betrayal of American Democracy" and "One World, Ready or Not: The Manic Logic of Global Capitalism."
Greider died at his home in Washington complications of congestive heart failure, his son, Cameron, told The New York Times.