Ross Perot is a retired Texas businessman and former third-party presidential candidate.
Perot founded Electronic Data Systems (EDS) in 1962, and the company quickly came to prominence when it computerized Medicare records. The company went public in 1968, and the stock price rose from $16 to $160 within days. Perot gained national attention when the Iranian government imprisoned two EDS employees prior to the Iranian Revolution. He arranged and paid for a private military operation to release them men, led by a retired special forces colonel. The team waited for a revolutionary mob to storm the jail, and ultimately liberated all 10,000 prisoners, many of whom were political prisoners.
The event was chronicled by Ken Follett in On the Wings of Eagles.
In 1992, Perot ran for the presidency. Through his 800 call line, he gained numerous supporters around anti-NAFTA sentiment and economic nationalism, as well as exhorting the need for governmental reform like term limits. He told supporters he would only run if he could get his name on the ballot in all 50 states. He used his personal wealth to buy half-hour blocks on television networks, where he conducted unusual campaign ads centered on charts and graphs. The ads garnered significant viewership and Perot surged ahead of his rivals in the polls.
He then surprised supporters by dropping out of the race, alleging the Bush campaign would release embarassing and digitally altered photographs of his daughter. He rejoined the race soon after, but never fully gained back support. Still he won 19 percent of the vote, the largest amount since Theodore Roosevelt in 1912.
He ran again in 1996, but invested far less of his fortune in the race and was not invited to the presidential debates. He still earned eight percent of the vote.
Though retired, Perot remains active in his website Perot Charts, which aims to raise awareness on issues of government spending and economic stability.
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