“Rather than trying to revise history afterward, I’m going to make it and get something done. It may not be perfect.”
— U.S. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, from Marc Guther’s cover story, Paulson to the Rescue, in the current issue of Fortune. Paulson, the former CEO of Goldman Sachs , helped broker a deal for JPMorgan Chase to acquire Bear Stearns in March and orchestrated the bailout of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae last week. Now the government is lending up to $85 billion to American International Group to prevent its collapse, after refusing to rescue Lehman Brothers earlier this week.