Ross Perot

Ross Perot, born in 1930, American business executive, philanthropist, and independent candidate for the United States presidency in 1992. Henry Ross Perot was born in Texarkana, Texas. In 1953 he graduated from the United States Naval Academy. Perot did not excel scholastically at the academy. However, fellow students elected him best all-around midshipman and class president for life. Perot served in the Navy at sea from 1953 to 1957.

Upon receiving his discharge from the Navy, Perot worked in Dallas, Texas, as a computer salesman for International Business Machines Corporation (IBM). In 1962, after meeting his annual quota for computer sales in the first three weeks of January, Perot left IBM to start an electronic data processing business, Electronic Data Systems (EDS). Through the 1960s, he built his business by serving the vast data processing needs of medical insurance companies. In 1968 Perot profited enormously when EDS stock began to trade publicly. In 1984 Perot sold the company to General Motors (GM) for $2.5 billion and secured a seat on GM's board of directors. Differences with GM executives led to his departure from the board two years later. In 1988 Perot launched a new data processing service company, Perot Systems Corporation.

A self-avowed patriot, Perot received substantial media attention in 1969 when he attempted to deliver food, medicine, mail, and clothing to United States prisoners of war in Vietnam. In 1979 he organized a dramatic commando rescue of two EDS employees jailed in Iran after that country's revolution, further burnishing his reputation as a man of action. Perot cemented this reputation when he declared his availability for the presidency on Larry King Live, a television talk show, in 1992. At that time, Perot expressed his dissatisfaction with the performance of the Republican and Democratic parties on issues such as the federal deficit, reform of term limits for members of Congress, and campaign finance reform.

To many Washington, D.C., pundits, Perot's quest for the White House appeared quixotic and futile. However, they underestimated the strength of his appeal to a broad spectrum of voters who felt alienated from their government and angry about its policies and behavior. In particular, citizens responded to Perot's colorful characterizations of the problems that ailed the government. Perot focused on massive deficit spending by the government, collapsing health-care and social-welfare delivery systems, corrupt campaign finance practices, the absence of term limits, and professional politicians out of touch with the American people. With his litany of complaints about politics and politicians, Perot tapped into a deep well of public dissatisfaction with the ethics and performance of public officials in Washington.

Perot accused the two major political parties of pandering to the American people and refusing to ask citizens to make difficult choices necessary to move forward on the major issues of the day. He presented his own economic plan, in a series of paid, 30-minute “infomercials” on television. The plan proposed to deal with the problem of the national budget deficit by sharply increasing gasoline taxes, increasing taxes on benefits of wealthier Social Security recipients, and limiting deductions for mortgage interest.

After leading both Republican president George Bush and Democratic front-runner Bill Clinton in early public opinion polls, Perot dropped out of the race in July. Perot cited the effect on his family of unfavorable media attention he had received. He reentered the race in early October and unleashed a media blitz in the final month of the campaign, spending $37 million of his own money to purchase lengthy television advertisements. Through the entire course of the campaign, Perot spent more than $60 million. In the November presidential election, Perot received 19 percent of the national vote, the highest total awarded any candidate not affiliated with one of the two major parties since Theodore Roosevelt campaigned on the Bull Moose (or Progressive Party) ticket in 1912. Perot finished second in Maine but won no state and gathered no electoral votes. Political analysts concluded that Perot's presence in the race took away more votes from Bush than from Clinton.

Perot remained in the public eye following the election. He promised his supporters that he would continue to work for them. In 1993 he established a watchdog group, United We Stand America, to monitor actions of the federal government and the two major political parties and to exert pressure when necessary. In 1995 Perot announced the formation of a third political party, the Reform Party, to challenge the Democratic and Republican parties in the 1996 presidential election.

During the 1996 election, Perot ran as the Reform Party’s presidential candidate; his running mate was entrepreneur and author Patrick “Pat” Choate. However, Perot’s base of support among older and upper-income voters had declined since 1992, and analysts and the press did not take his campaign seriously. He won only 8 percent of the popular vote.