Longtime auto executive Lee Iacocca will be buried in Troy, Michigan, on Wednesday following a funeral mass in nearby Bloomfield Hills.
When the bulletins began filling up my inbox last week, reporting that Iacocca had died at 94, I was instantly transported back to one memorable afternoon in Washington in 1991.
If the three honchos from Detroit could come together to plead their case at the White House, I thought why not make a joint appearance on one of the most influential network television programs? As their White House meeting drew closer, and as the idea of lobbying the consumer directly became more attractive, Ford finally agreed to the"Nightline" request. And then Chrysler followed suit. Two down, one to go. The only hope I had of having GM participate was personal lobbying. So I flew to Detroit and made my case to a room full of General Motors executives -- all men, as I recall -- seated around a long table. Shortly after I returned to Washington, GM signed on.
The next morning I was stunned to read USA Today's account of my coup. In a bit of hyperbole, the paper said I"might as well have been planning a superpower summit" in landing Stempel, Poling and Iacocca for the first-ever joint interview among the Big Three auto execs. It's been nearly 30 years since that day when Iacocca, Poling and Stempel occupied ABC's green room. And as I recall, they easily made small talk and tried to act as though it was normal for three cutthroat competitors to spend time together.
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