Jon Corzine and Henry Paulson Jr.; Gabrielle Reece; William H. ("Holly") Whyte; John W. Hinckley Jr.
When Jon Corzine (right) was named CEO of Goldman Sachs in 1994--with an estimated $20 million-a-year paycheck--analysts thought he would transform one of Wall Street's oldest, most prestigious, and most profitable firms. Corzine did not fit the traditional mold of the well-connected financier who went to the right schools; he was born and raised in a southern Illinois farmhouse. Until his sudden resignation last week, he was preparing to offer shares to the public through an IPO. But the collapse of stock markets around the world, along with personality conflicts with top Goldman brass, took its toll. Heavy trading losses in 1998 caused Goldman's earnings to sink 80 percent. Perhaps more troubling for a firm that prides itself on camaraderie, Goldman insiders report that Corzine never got along with recently named co-CEO Henry Paulson Jr. (left). Paulson may consolidate the executive suite and continue Corzine's plan to go public by year's end.
"I'm willing to be a babe for a living . . . but that's not what I'm all about," says Gabrielle Reece, the most famous player on the women's pro volleyball tour. Now, the 29-year-old Reece is protesting a new rule of the International Volleyball Federation that women's beach contestants must wear two-piece uniforms with bikini-style bottoms no wider than 2.3 inches at the hip. The 6-foot, 3-inch beauty--who plays in ankle-length tights--told CNN, "I'm kind of bummed. I liked my tights." The federation's Angelo Squeo says the dress code is meant to ensure a professional standard and uniformity for commercial sponsors' logos. "And keep in mind," he says, that "you're on a beach, not an ice rink."
Along with David Riesman, C. Wright Mills, and a few others, William H. ("Holly") Whyte helped define Homo americanus, c. 1950. His The Organization Man (1956) found the hard-charging individualist of yore replaced by the get-along conformist of the modern corporation. A marine in World War II, Whyte was an editor at Fortune until 1958, when he took to the streets to study and write about his great love, the urban environment. Distrustful of suburbs, especially the "gated community," he held that streets were "the river of life of the city." Whyte died last week at 81 amid the reassuring roar of his beloved Manhattan.
Would-be presidential assassin John W. Hinckley Jr. is one step closer to making his first excursion off the campus of the mental hospital where he has been confined for 17 years. A divided federal appellate panel says Hinckley, 43, should be allowed to visit family and friends with doctors' approval if he is accompanied by St. Elizabeths Hospital personnel. It was not immediately clear whether federal prosecutors, who have maintained that Hinckley remains a danger to the community, will appeal. Hinckley was found not guilty by reason of insanity in the 1981 attempt on President Ronald Reagan's life.
This story appears in the January 25, 1999 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.
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