Special Section: 50 Faces for America's Future

  • Share

(13 of 15)

against women in large companies. Since then the firm has focused on affirmative action in general: recruiting and developing the talents of women, minorities, youth and the aged. "Companies have hired women and minorities in entry level jobs, and now it is a question of solving the upward mobility problems," says Sullivan. A Philadelphia native who lives in California, Sullivan spends three weeks out of four traveling. Although Boyle/Kirkman now has yearly revenues of more than $1 million and 45 clients, the majority of which are FORTUNE 500 companies, affirmative action is progressing slowly. Observes Sullivan: "This is not just a sprint—this is a marathon."

42. Paul E. Tsongas, 38, a cool, darkly handsome man with an unruly shock of hair, has a touch of Kennedy about him. Indeed, it was John F. Kennedy who inspired Tsongas (pronounced Song-as) to spend two years in the Peace Corps in Ethiopia before getting his law degree at Yale. Tsongas opened his practice in his home town of Lowell, Mass., where his Greek emigrant grandfather had settled, and won his first election to Congress in 1974, by defeating Republican Edward Brooke. Considered to be one of the party's rising young liberals, Tsongas has strongly supported the Kennedy-Waxman national health plan and has sharply criticized both Carter and the Congress for failing to develop an adequate energy program. Says Tsongas: "The U.S. is going to have to make serious attitudinal adjustments toward lifestyle on the energy issue, and it will not do so without leadership."

43. Ted Turner, 40, acts as boldly as he talks, which is saying a great deal. As the brash owner of the Atlanta Braves, Turner was once formally reprimanded by National League President Charles Feeney; he has irritated the game's purists with several of his promotional ploys. In 1977 he took on the gentlemen of the yachting world and earned the chance to defend the America's Cup. Turner and Courageous won. His latest target: the nation's major television networks. His "superstation," WTCG in Atlanta, now reaches 4 million households in 46 states by broadcasting via satellite. Now the three major networks are trying to force the FCC to limit retransmission consent. Turner is spoiling for the fight. "The networks have had 30 years to upgrade television and haven't done it yet," he says. "They need competition to make them better." His plans include educational shows, limited commercial time and a news program with Daniel Schorr as anchor. He hopes to reach 7 million homes by 1980. Turner's newest yacht: Tenacious.

44. R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr., 35, has established himself as one of the most irreverent pundits of the new right. Back in 1966 when radicals briefly took over Indiana University's Bloomington campus, Tyrrell, then a graduate student, launched a paper called the Alternative ("to mainstream liberalism and the radical movement"). With a burgeoning list of contributors that included William F. Buckley Jr., and Irving Kristol, the iconoclastic monthly went national in 1970, changed its name to the American Spectator, acquired 22,000 subscribers and earned a reputation among intellectuals for good writing and biting humor. In his latest book, Public Nuisances, a collection of his editorials, Tyrrell fulminates against such targets as Jimmy Carter

Time.com on Digg

POWERED BY digg

Quotes of the Day »

HILLARY CLINTON, Secretary of State, appealing to Iranian authorities, who said they will try the three American hikers who were arrested in July after allegedly crossing the Iran-Iraq border; Iran's Foreign Minister said they had "dubious intent"
For use in rail of Articles page or Section Fronts pages. Duplicate and change name as necesssary to distinguish.