FBI’s Steve Jobs file: He will ‘distort reality ... to achieve his goals’

Steve Jobs, being considered in 1991 for an appointment under President George H.W. Bush, underwent a thorough background investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, according to newly released files from the agency.

The FBI amassed a lengthy and often unflattering file on Apple’s co-founder, with more than 30 interviews of friends, neighbors, family, former business associates and Jobs, that revealed his early drug use and concerns that the then-head of NeXT was neglecting his daughter born out of wedlock with his high school girlfriend. The business genius was a late bloomer, having graduated from Homestead High School in Cupertino (CA) with a 2.65 GPA. Those interviewed generally agreed that he was a strong business leader and would succeed in an appointment to Bush’s Export Council. “They recommended him for a position of trust and responsibility,” according to the FBI files. It would be five years until Apple bought NeXT and returned Steve Jobs to its fold, and six years until he would be appointed the company’s interim chief executive.