The Unknown Iacocca

When his subject refused to grant an interview, Wyden (Bay of Pigs, Day One, etc.) turned to the published record and quotes from relatives, friends, associates, competitors, journalists and psychologists for this biography of Lido Anthony ""Lee'' Iacocca, the Ford Motor Company president who in 1978 was fired, went on to lead the foundering Chrysler Corporation back to health with an unprecedented federal government assist, wrote a collaborative autobiography selling in the millions and now, as Mr. Can-Do of American business, is perceived as a tentative, still enigmatic but potentially formidable U.S. Presidential candidate. Wyden describes Iacocca as a shy, striving child driven by an energetic immigrant father; an old-style Italian family man unable, when widowed, to stay married to a younger, more modern woman; an irresistible salesman rising through Ford dealership ranks; and, finally, as a vigorous, innovative executive, persistent, proud, patriotic, irascible, charismatic, fascinated with making automobiles. Photos not seen by PW. First serial to the New York Times Book Review and Detroit Free Press. (November 9)