It was no secret that Houston Endowment, Inc., the $400 million nonprofit foundation set up by the late Secretary of Commerce, Jesse Jones, was anxious to get out of the newspaper business. To the foundation's trustees, the Houston Chronicle was a persistent annoyance. For one thing, they were involved in constant wrangling with Jesse's nephew, John T. Jones Jr., the paper's middle-of-the-road president, who opposed their conservative editorial policies. For another, they were worried that Congress might soon pass legislation forbidding charitable foundations to own active businesses. Last week, to their unconcealed pleasure, the trustees finally found a buyer: Houston Oilman...
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