Back in 1970, when George was running against Lloyd Bentsen, Kerr had advised Bush on a
proposed business deal involving a loan request from Victor A. Flaherty, who needed money to buyFidelity Printing Company. Blaine Kerr was a hard bargainer: he recommended that Bush make the
loan, but that he also demand some stock in Fidelity Printing as part of the deal. Three years later,
when Fidelity Printing was sold, Bush cashed in his stock for $499,600 in profit, a gain of 1,900%
on his original investment. That was the kind of return that George Bush liked, the kind that honest
activities can so rarely produce. [fn 1]
Chairman Mao Liedkte and his sidekick Blaine Kerr constantly scanned their radar screens for an
oil company to acquire. They studied Superior Oil, which was in play, but Superior Oil did too
much of its business in Canada, where there had been no equivalent of George Bush's Task Force
on Regulatory Relief, and where the oil companies were still subject to some restraints. ChairmanMao ruled that one out. Then there was Gulf Oil, where T. Boone Pickens was attempting a
takeover, but Liedkte reluctantly decided that Gulf was beyond his means. Then, Chairman Mao
began to hear reports of conflicts on the board of Getty Oil. Getty Oil, with 20,000 employees, was
a $12 billion corporation, about six times larger than Pennzoil. But Chairman Mao had already
managed to fagocitate United Gas when that compnay was about six times larger than his ownPennzoil. Getty Oil had about a billion barrels of oil in the ground. Now Chairman Mao was very (^)
interested.
The trouble on the Getty Board was a conflict between Gordon Getty, the surviving son of the
freebooting foundeGetty had musical-aesthetic ambitions; but he wanted to be consulted on all major policy decisionsr J. Paul Getty, and Sidney Petersen, the chairman of the Getty Board. Gordon (^)
by Getty Oil. Gordon and his wife moved in the social circles of Graham Allison of Harvard's
Kennedy School, Lawrence Tisch of Loewe's Corporation, and Warren Buffett, the owner of the
Berkshire Hathaway investment house in Omaha. Gordon Getty now controlled the Sarah Getty
Trust with 40% of tMuseum. Chariman Mao Liedtke gathered his team to attempt to seize control of Getty Oil: Jameshe outstanding stock. About 12% of the stock was controlled by the Getty (^)
Glanville of Lazard Freres was his investment banker, Arthur Liman of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind,
Wharton, & Garrison was his chief negotiator. Liedtke also had the services of the megafirm Baker
& Botts of Houston.
In early 1984, Gordon Getty and his Sarah Getty Trust and the Getty Museum represented by the
New York mergers and acquisitions lawyer Marty Lipton combined to oblige the board of Getty Oil
to give preliminary acceptance to a tender offer for Getty Oil stock (a la Gammell once again) at a
price of about $112.50 per share. Arthur Liman thought he had a deal that would enable Chariman
Mao to seize control of Getty Oil and its billion barrel reserves, but no contract or any otherdocument was ever signed, and key provisions of the transaction remained to be negotiated.
When the news of these negotiations began to leak out, major oil compnaies who also wanted Getty
and its reserves began to move in: Chevron showed signs of making a move, but it was Texaco,
represented by Bruc& Flom law firm, that got the attention of the Getty Museum and Gordon Ge Wasserstein of First Boston and the notorious Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagheretty with a bid (of $125) (^)
that was sweeter than the tight-fisted Chairman Mao Liedkte had been willing to put forward.
Gordon Getty and the Getty Museum accordingly signed a contract with Texaco. This was the
largest acquisition in human history up to that time, and the check received by Gordon Getty was
for $4,071,051,264, tonly to one that had been used to roll over a part of the postwar national debt. he second largest check ever written in the history of the United States, second
Chairman Mao Liedkte thought he had been cheated. "They've made off with a million dollars of
my oil!", he bellowed. "We're going to sue everybody in sight!"