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Frank StantonFrank Stanton
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Session:         Page of 755

Stanton:

Yes. So I was just a naive kid. And these were the doubts that went rushing through my head when Paley said, “I want you to take over the company. And I'm not going to be there.” And I was brash enough to say, “Why not Paul?” And he said, “Well, Paul isn't well enough to do it. And I don't think Paul wants to do it.” And I gave a hell of a sell to Paley on why I thought Kesten would be perfect for the job. I learned later that they didn't see eye to eye and so it wouldn't have worked. And then I said could I have some time to think about it? Yes. We walked back up to the house. All of this is taking no more time than I'm telling it. We got up to the house and he said, “Well, you'll take care of the announcement then on Monday.”

Q:

This was your first clue as to --

Stanton:

And I said, “Well, Mr. Paley, I thought I had a little time.” “Oh, yes,” he said, “Well take your time!” Now, that was the first Saturday, as I recall, in September. And I never saw him again until Christmas Eve.

Q:

What did you think during this period?

Stanton:

Well, I thought he'd changed his mind. He didn't make any efforts to see me. Granted, I didn't make any effort to see him, because I never knew where he was. He was off on a lot of personal things. And I didn't see him. I wasn't running the company. I told Kesten what had happened. Told Kesten that I thought he was foolish for not doing it.





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