Word: ponts
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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Visiting Pierre S. du Pont's fabulous Longwood Gardens near Kennett Square, Pa. in 1926. President Calvin Coolidge passed in Yankee silence among exotic ixora, agapanthus, orchids, vanilla vines and breadfruit, finally spotted a familiar sight. Said the President: "Bananas...
Chemical Manufacturer du Pont, creator of Longwood, died last spring at 84. Last week his will disclosed that he had left almost his whole fortune to a benevolent foundation which will keep the famed gardens growing. Total bequest: some $60 million (including 3,000 shares of Christiana Securities Co. at $11.000 a share). Pierre du Pont's gift makes Longwood, open to the public since 1921, one of the world's most richly endowed pieces of real estate...
Acres under Glass. William Penn granted the tract (in 1702) to one George Peirce, whose descendants imported bricks from England to build a small manor, later sheltered runaway slaves. In 1906, when Du Pont bought the 950-acre estate, "Peirce's Park" was already a pretty arboretum. Du Pont money transformed it into an American Versailles. Du Pont spent $500,000 for fountains, built $2 million worth of greenhouses to put three acres under glass. Admiring the water gardens of Italy's Villa Gamberaia near Florence, he copied them at Longwood-adding lakes and canals...
...Government, which lost its five-year antitrust suit to force Du Pont to sell its 22.6% ownership of General Motors Corp. two months ago (TIME, Dec. 13), announced last week that it would appeal the case to the U.S. Supreme Court. Normally, appeals from a lower court pick out errors of law. But in the Du Pont case the Justice Department said it would challenge Chicago Federal Judge Walter J. La Buy's entire interpretation of the evidence in the case. He had ruled that "Du Pont has not had, and does not today have, practical or working control...
...Pont itself appeared unworried by the appeal. Last week, when the company got a chance to reduce its percentage of G.M. stock, it decided to buy instead of sell. In a new stock-option deal, G.M. offered stockholders the right to buy an additional 4,385,000 shares at the rate of one new share for every 20 currently held. Wall Streeters expected Du Pont to sell the options it will get for 1,000,000 new shares (it now owns 20 million), thus reduce the percentage it holds in G.M. But in Wilmington the company announced that it would...