J. Paul Getty

Jean Paul Getty (December 15, 1892 – June 6, 1976) was an American industrialist and founder of the Getty Oil Company.

Common Myths about Jean Paul Getty

Coin-box Telephone

It is true that Getty had a pay phone installed at Sutton Place manor. However, the reason behind it is fairly simple. In Getty's own autobigroaphy (Getty, 1976, pg.319):

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"Now, for months after Sutton Place was purchased, great numbers of people came in and out of the house. Some were visiting businessmen. Others were artisans or workmen engaged in renovation and refurbishing. Still others were tradesmen making deliveries of merchandise. Suddenly, the Sutton Place telephone bills began to soar. The reason was obvious. Each of the regular telephones in the house has direct access to outside lines and thus to long-distance and even overseas operators. All sorts of people were making the best of a rare opportunity. They were picking up Sutton Place phones and placing calls to girlfriends in Geneva or Georgia and to aunts, uncles and third cousins twice-removed in Caracas and Cape Town. The costs of their friendly chats were, of course, charged to the Sutton Place bill."

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Hence, the only solution was to place dial-locks on all the regular telephones, limiting their use to authorised staff, and the coin-box telephone was installed for others.

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Getty's Initial Refusal to Pay Ransom

In 1973, his grandson, John Paul Getty III, was kidnapped. It is often reported that Getty refused to pay the ransom until he was sent the boy's severed right ear. In the end his grandson was released. However, this account oversimplifies the facts in the case.

Related Topics:
1973 - John Paul Getty III

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Getty defends his initial refusal to pay the ransom on two points. Firstly he argues that he had fourteen other grandchildren, and to submit to the kidnappers demands would immediately place his other fourteen grandchildren at the risk of copy-cat kidnappers.

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Secondly, "The second reason for my refusal was much broader-based. I contend that acceding to the demands of criminals and terrorists merely guarantees the continuing increase and spread of lawlessness, violence and such outrages as terror-bombings, 'skyjackings' and the slaughter of hostages that plague our present-day world" (Getty, 1976, pg.139).

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