PEROT, ROSS

born June 27, 1930, Texarkana, Texas, U.S. Perot at the second presidential debate, 1992 in full Henry Ross Perot American businessman and philanthropist, an independent candidate for U.S. president in 1992 and 1996. The son of a cotton broker, Perot attended Texarkana Junior College for two years before entering the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Md., in 1949. He was commissioned in the U.S. Navy in 1953 and served until 1957, after which he worked as a salesman for International Business Machines (IBM). In 1962 Perot quit IBM and formed his own company, Electronic Data Systems (EDS), to design, install, and operate computer data-processing systems for clients on a contractual basis. EDS grew by processing medical claims for Blue Cross and other large insurance companies, and in 1968 Perot took the firm public in a shrewdly managed share offering whose skyrocketing prices yielded Perot, the majority shareholder, several hundred million dollars. EDS continued to prosper under his leadership, and in 1984 Perot sold the company to General Motors for $2.5 billion worth of special-issue stock and a seat on GM's board of directors. Perot's criticism of GM's management prompted them to buy back his seat for $700 million in 1986. In 1969 Perot mounted an unsuccessful campaign to free American prisoners-of-war being held in North Vietnam. In 1979 he sponsored efforts to rescue two EDS employees who were being held in prison in Iran. In 1992 Perot ran as an independent for U.S. president and initially earned widespread popularity among voters dissatisfied with traditional party politics. Despite dropping from the race in July only to return in October (with James Stockdale as his vice presidential running mate), he won 19 percent of the popular vote in the November election. After the election Perot organized the nonpartisan political pressure group United We Stand America. In September 1995 Perot established the Reform Party, which he hoped to build into a major political party. The party's broadly defined platform called for campaign reform, congressional term limits, balancing the federal budget, overhauling the health-care and income-tax systems, and placing restrictions on lobbying. Running as the Reform Party nominee for president in 1996, Perot received 8 percent of the popular vote.