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'''Henry Ross Perot''' (born [[June 27]], [[1930]]) is an [[United States|American]] businessman and billionaire from [[Texas]].  Perot founded [[Electronic Data Systems]] (EDS) in [[1962]].  He later left the company, and founded Perot Systems with a similar ethos.

Perot was born in [[Texarkana, Texas]].  He entered the [[United States Naval Academy]] in [[1949]].
By the time he graduated in [[1953]] he was president of his class and battalion commander. 
By late [[1954]], Perot was made a lieutenant, junior grade.  However, in [[1955]], Perot expressed great discontent with his life in the Navy in a letter to his father. He quietly served the remainder of his four-year commitment and was discharged.

Ross married Margot Birminham of [[Greensburg, Pennsylvania]] in [[1956]].
Over the years they had five children (Ross Jr., Nancy, Suzanne, Carolyn, and Katherine).
As of 2002, the Perots have nine grandchildren.

When he left the navy in [[1957]], Perot became a salesman for [[International Business Machines]] (IBM).  He quickly became a top employee and tried to pitch his ideas to supervisors who largely ignored him.  He left IBM in [[1962]] to found EDS in [[Dallas, Texas]] and courted large corporations for his data processing services.  Perot received lucrative contracts from the [[government of the United States|U.S. government]] in the [[1960s]], computerizing [[Medicare (United States)|Medicare]] records. EDS went public in [[1968]] and the stock price shot up from $16 a share to $160 within days. ''[[Fortune]]'' magazine called Perot the "fastest, richest Texan" in a 1968 cover story.  In [[1984]], [[General Motors]] bought EDS for $2.4 billion.

In [[1979]] the new government of [[Iran]] improsoned two of his employees in a contract dispute.
Ross organized and sponsored a successful rescue.
The rescue team was led by retired U.S. Army Special Forces Colonel Arthur D.('Bull') Simons.
When the team couldn't find a way to extract these two prisoners, they staged a jail break by all 10,000 inmates.
The exploit was recorded in a novel, <cite>On Wings of Eagles</cite> by Ken Follett, and was a best selling novel.

In [[1984]], Perot bought one of the original signed copies of the [[Magna Carta]].
This is the only copy to leave the [[United Kingdom]].
It is now on loan to the National Archives in [[Washington, D.C.]], where it is on display with the [[Declaration of Independence]] and [[United States Constitution|Constitution]].

Ross Perot put up the majority of the [[venture capital]] for [[Steve Jobs]]' [[NeXT]] computer project in [[1986]].

In [[1986]] after heavy criticism of GM he was bought out for 700 million USD.

In [[1988]] he founded [[Perot Systems]] in [[Plano, Texas]].

==Political Activities==

Perot was not a fan of [[President of the United States|President]] [[George H. W. Bush]] and vigorously opposed America's involvement in the 1990-1991 [[Gulf War]].  He urged Senators to vote against the war resolution and began considering a Presidential run.  On [[February 20]], [[1992]], he appeared on [[CNN]]'s ''[[Larry King Live]]'' and announced his intention to run if his supporters could get his name on the ballot in all 50 states.  He became a viable competitor and soon polled even with the major competitors.  Discouraged by a reinvigorated [[United States Democratic Party|Democratic]] party ticket of [[Bill Clinton]] and [[Al Gore]] after the Democratic National Convention, Perot announced his withdrawal from the campaign, but in September he qualified for all 50 state ballots.  On October 1, he announced his intention to run again.  He campaigned in 16 states and spent an estimated $65.4 million of his own money.  He was allowed to debate with Bush and Clinton in three nationally televised [[American presidential debate|debates]]. Perot's running mate was Admiral [[James Stockdale]].

In the [[U.S. presidential election, 1992|1992 election]], he received 19% of the popular vote (but no [[U.S. Electoral College|electoral]] votes), making him the most successful third-party presidential candidate since [[Theodore Roosevelt]] in [[U.S. presidential election, 1912|1912]]. After his success, Perot was entitled to receive federal election funding. In [[1995]] with his new funds, he founded the [[United States Reform Party|Reform Party]] and ran under this party in the [[U.S. presidential election, 1996|1996 election]]. He was far less successful the second time around receiving 8% of the popular vote, still a respectable third-party showing. Many of Perot's supporters believe his weaker showing in the [[1996]] election was due to his exclusion from the [[American presidential debate|presidential debates]].

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====References====
* Adapted from the [[Wikipedia]] article, "Ross_Perot" [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ross_Perot http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ross_Perot], used under the [[GNU Free Documentation License]]