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The Deal of the Century

Page 43

by Coll, Steve;

postponement request and, 155–159

  protective coupling arrangements and, 191–192, 263–264

  recesses of, 173, 238

  Saunders’ courtroom strategy in, 195–199

  Saunders’ cross-examination in, 196–199, 204–210, 235

  Saunders’ witness list in, 282–285, 312

  start of Saunders’ defense case in, 256–260

  Wooten testimony in, 258–260

  VADIC (company), 197–199

  Vail, Theodore, 58

  Van Deerlin, Lionel, 99

  Van Sinderen, A. W., 14

  Verveer, Philip, 53–63, 66, 73–76, 113–119

  Anderson compared to, 115–117, 121

  AT&T investigated by, 56, 59–61, 67, 79, 113–114, 117, 192

  Kenney compared to, 140

  legal experience of, 73–74

  morality of, 53–54, 74, 115–117, 121

  replacement and resignation of, 118–119

  Saunders as viewed by, 75, 76

  Saunders’ views on, 78

  U.S. v. AT&T and, 74–76, 78–82, 107, 192

  Villieres, Paul, 270

  Vita, Jean, 329–330

  Voltaire, 169

  Waddy, Joseph C., 79–82, 114, 123–124, 127

  Wallace, George, 259, 260

  Wall Street Journal, 188, 350, 363, 377–378

  Washington, D.C. Bar Association, 366

  Washington Star, 257

  Watergate, 57, 61

  WATS, 13

  Weinberger, Caspar, 186–189, 211, 216, 241–242

  AT&T position paper of, 257–258

  Cabinet council and, 219, 220

  inter-intra split and, 321–322, 355

  secret testimony of, 187–188

  Western Electric Company, 9, 10, 56, 149, 216, 240, 279, 288–290, 299–300

  Baxter’s views on, 182, 183

  Bell Labs’ relationship with, 271–272

  competition and, 105, 111, 120, 122, 192, 264, 271–272, 289

  Crimson Sky and, 174–175

  FCC investigation of, 60

  Greene’s views on, 288, 290, 299–300

  inter-intra split and, 271–272, 274, 320–321

  Justice suits to force divestiture of, 58–59, 60, 65–67

  operating companies’ bias toward, 289–290

  post-breakup, 371–372

  renaming of, 371

  U.S. v. AT&T and, 142, 144, 150, 151, 176

  White House, Office of Telecommunications Policy, 60

  Wiley, Richard, 356, 365

  Wilkes-Barre, Penn., 17, 22

  Will, George, 168

  Wilson, Woodrow, 58

  Wirth, Timothy, 97, 99–102, 261–262, 280–281, 294–296, 300, 315

  H.R. 5158 introduced by, 353–354, 356

  inter-intra split settlement and, 353–355

  “Telecommunications in Transition” of, 294–295

  Wood, John, 68

  Wooten, Marvin, 258–260

  Wright, Skelly, 111

  Wunder, Bernard, 211–216, 218, 220, 223, 234–235

  Senate Bill 898 and, 244, 245

  Yauch, Michael, 195

  Yellow Pages, 362

  Zeglis, John, 195

  Acknowledgments

  This is a book above all about people, and thus it belongs first to my sources—the lawyers, executives, politicians, and government officials who opened their professional and sometimes their personal lives to me without any guarantees about my intentions or motives. To list the names of those who were especially helpful would betray their trust; they know who they are, and I am grateful to them. And of course, none of them bears any responsibility for what I have written.

  This is also a book about institutions, and on that score, too, I count myself fortunate. Confronted with my requests for interviews and information, AT&T might easily have tried to deny me access. Instead, the company was courageous enough to open its doors, albeit cautiously and with one foot on the jamb. I found the professionalism and courtesy of its representatives, despite their concern about what I was after, to be exceptional among the large corporations I have dealt with as a reporter. Paula Horii in the media relations department was particularly helpful in arranging interviews and channeling information. Similarly, the Justice Department responded to my various inquiries, including a request for documents under the Freedom of Information Act, with speed and thoroughness unusual among federal bureaucracies.

  I owe a great deal to the magazine and newspaper editors who occasionally employed, always supported, and invariably taught me during the more than two-year life of this project. They include Scott Kaufer, Cal Fentress, Tom Bates, and Matt Smith at California magazine; George Gendren, Bo Burlingham, Gene Stone, and Steve Solomon at Inc. magazine; and Bob Thompson, Mary Hadar, Ellen Edwards, Janet Duckworth, and Len Downie at the Washington Post.

  The late John Cushman, who once told me that he became a literary agent because he liked to “go home every night and clean the blood out of my teeth,” favored this book with one of his last bursts of brilliance. Tom Stewart and Susan Leon at Atheneum made possible what Cushman began. And my current agent, Melanie Jackson, has done much to improve the quality of my professional life.

  I was assisted in my research by the staffs at George Washington University’s Gelman Library for telecommunications; the University of Southern California’s Crocker business library; the University of California at Los Angeles’ several business, law, and communications libraries; the AT&T legal document room in Washington, D.C.; the Library of Congress’ law and periodical reading rooms; and by the staff at the National Archives. The clerks in the U.S. District Court filing room in Washington, D.C., went beyond the call of duty to locate missing documents and to arrange for copying services.

  Chuck Jensvold, Martin Burns, Dan Leighton, Sue Horton, Rich Bonin, Anne Ball, Tensi Whelan, and Joel Kotkin helped me find materials I would otherwise have missed.

  My family saw me through, especially my wife Susan, who for so long was the only one who understood what I was doing. Without her, I would never have finished.

  Steve Coll

  Gaithersburg, Maryland

  March 1986

  About the Author

  Steve Coll is a staff writer at the New Yorker, the dean of the Columbia Journalism School, and the bestselling author of seven books. Previously he served as president of the New America Foundation and worked for two decades at the Washington Post, where he won the Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Journalism for a four-part series on the Securities and Exchange Commission during Ronald Reagan’s presidency. The award-winning series became the basis for Eagle on the Street (1991), coauthored with David A. Vise. Coll’s other books include New York Times Notable Book The Deal of the Century (1998); Ghost Wars (2004), winner of the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction; The Bin Ladens (2009), winner of the PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction; and Private Empire (2012), winner of the Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award.

  All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.

  Copyright © 1986 by Steve Coll

  Cover design by Ian Koviak

  ISBN: 978-1-5040-4503-2

  This edition published in 2017 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.

  180 Maiden Lane

  New York, NY 10038

  www.openroadmedia.com

  STEVE COLL

  FROM OPEN ROAD MEDIA

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