Julian C Arhire

Steve Jobs Julian C Arhire

Even before the world knew him as a genius, the FBI had the book on Steve Jobs. In a 1991 background check, the FBI pegged Apple's co-founder as brash and noted his early drug use. Most tellingly, the agents, evaluating Jobs for an appointment under President George H. W. Bush, said acquaintances found him to have a peculiarly driven nature. "Several individuals questioned Mr. Jobs's honesty stating that Mr. Jobs will twist the truth and distort reality in order to achieve his goals," according to the FBI file. The agency amassed a lengthy dossier on Jobs, with more than 29 interviews of friends, neighbors, family, former business associates and Jobs himself. The business genius was a late bloomer, having graduated from Homestead High School in Cupertino, Calif., with a 2.65 GPA. He admitted using marijuana and LSD while in college but appeared to have stopped using drugs at least five years before the report. The documents also contain memos about a $1m bomb threat that was made against Apple on February 7, 1985, several months before Apple fired Jobs. According to the source, Jobs' religious leanings led him to live "more of a spartanlike and at times even monastic existence" that had "apparently influenced the appointee's personal life for the better". Apple, the maker of the iPhone, iPad, iPod and Mac, is now the world's most valuable company.