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So, at the time, you were for the deal, you thought it was a good idea? What were your personal feelings at the time about it? What was your opinion?

Off the top of my head, I was for it. But I had no opportunity to really think it through or to weigh all the pros and cons because the very first thing we did, practically, was to take it to the group of senior people, and when they were negative that was the end of it and I didn't pursue it. I expect that as I got closer to the final vote, I would have veered away from it on the programming side. But it was a different company -- GE was a different company at the time than it is now. I had earlier been asked by Ralph Cordner, who was chairman of GE, to leave CBS and join GE as a senior officer.

Really?

That was to have been an opportunity for me to succeed Cordner as chief executive of GE. Nothing was offered in the way of a firm contract on succeeding Cordner, but I was to be brought in at a very high level and given a chance to demonstrate my skills, and I expect at some appropriate time I might have been moved in to his slot.

Was this in the sixties, generally, or --

No, this had to have been in the fifties.

In the Fifties. Were you tempted?