Oral History – Jack Haenichen
(Continued)
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13)
How did the Motorola transistor organization change in the 1960s?
In
1968, Fairchild was losing business and losing money, (which was hard to
believe because they were far and away the leader for years), and so they
decided it was time to change management. Motorola, at the time, was
called the “Ponderous Pachyderm” by the industry people. In other words,
we maybe were not the “latest and greatest” but when we started making
something, we wiped everybody out, because we just made them by the
billions – that was our reputation, slow moving but good. Apparently, that
appealed to the people in Long Island, and they approached Les Hogan and he
left, along with all of his top staff. I was a second tier person at that
point and got subsequently promoted then to Corporate vice-president. I
decided to stay, mainly because I liked it there and they were good to me –
why should I leave? Right or wrong, that’s what I did. Despite the fact
that Les Hogan was a genius, he and his group were unable to return
Fairchild to its former glory.
14) The Transistor Museum recently completed an Oral History of Wilf Corrigan - he was also
involved in management change at this time.
I can tell you something
about Wilf Corrigan, to show you what kind of guy he is.
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Oral History – Jack Haenichen
(Continued)
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Naturally,
part of the deal when these guys left is that they were given big stock
options before the announcement – well, you know what happens; the minute
the announcement is made the stock surges. Corrigan told them he was going
to leave, but he said, “I have unfinished work here. I don’t want to leave
Motorola in a lurch, and I am going to stay until I feel it is safe for me
to go.” That was remarkable.
15)
How long did you stay at Motorola and what did you do afterwards?
I left
there in 1975, and I retired. I got bored soon afterwards. I got a phone
call late in 1975 from a guy named Dr. Bob Handy. Bob Handy was hired by
Motorola from Westinghouse 10 years prior to that, and I knew Bob well and
had worked with him. He was “loaned” to the State of Arizona as an
‘executive loan” to start up a Solar Energy Research Commission. He called
me up, and asked me to help him. I was still a young man then, 40 years
old. So I went down there and helped him with it, and when his year was
up, and he left and went back to Motorola. I stayed on with that for quite
awhile.
Go
To Haenichen Oral History, Page 15
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