Perot, H. Ross
Identification American businessman and U.S.
presidential candidate in 1992 and 1996
Born June 27, 1930; Texarkana, Texas
Although not endorsed by either of the two major political
parties in the United States, Perot had a substantial follow-
ing among fiscal and social conservatives in his runs
for the presidency as an independent in the election of
1992 and as a candidate of the Reform Party in the election
of 1996.
A self-made billionaire when the decade of the 1990’s
dawned, H. Ross Perot made his fortune as the
founder of a multibillion-dollar data-processing orga-
nization that grew into a corporation with more than
seventy thousand employees. After General Motors
bought him out in 1984 for over two and a half billion
dollars, Perot became the largest shareholder in Gen-
eral Motors and served on its board of directors.
The ever-restless Perot established a computer
service company in 1988, but he
now set his sights on attempting
to alter significantly the political
scene in the United States. Rich
and influential, he attracted an
enthusiastic following of conser-
vatives who rankled at govern-
ment interference in businesses
and who were suspicious of the
close ties that many high-level pol-
iticians established with influen-
tial contributors to their political
campaigns. It seemed obvious
that executives of corporations
that contributed substantially to
politicians’ war chests expected
reciprocity once their candidates
were elected.
Perot, able and willing to fi-
nance his own presidential cam-
paign, appeared to many to repre-
sent a new direction in American
politics. Even though Perot had
no political experience and had
never held an elective office, peo-
ple were convinced that his busi-
ness acumen compensated for
his lack of such experience and
that his ability to manage a corporation with more
than seventy thousand employees demonstrated his
strong administrative ability.
The 1992 Presidential Election In 1992, the Repub-
lican incumbent, George H. W. Bush, sought a sec-
ond term as president. His Democratic opponent,
Bill Clinton, was a newcomer to the national politi-
cal scene. Perot, appalled by the looming federal
debt the Bush administration was incurring, called
for a drastic reduction in the budget deficit that was
developing at an alarming rate.
Perot’s bid for the presidency began in February,
1992, when he announced his intention to run for
the nation’s highest office if his name appeared on
the ballots of all fifty states before the November
presidential election. It was obvious that Perot had
the means to finance his own campaign, thereby en-
abling him to avoid having ties with corporate con-
tributors.
Staffed by a strong cadre of volunteers, the Perot
campaign went well, but in July, 1992, the candidate664 Perot, H. Ross The Nineties in America
During the third presidential debate of 1992, Perot spoke further of his
plan to eliminate the budget deficit:Our challenge is to stop the financial bleeding. If you take a pa-
tient into the hospital that’s bleeding arterially, step one is to stop
the bleeding. And we are bleeding arterially.
There’s only one way out of this, and that is to stop the deterio-
ration of our job base, to have a growing, expanding job base, to
give us the tax base—see, balancing the budget is not nearly as
difficult as paying off the $4 trillion debt and leaving our children
the American Dream intact.
We have spent their money. We’ve got to pay it back. This is go-
ing to take fair, shared sacrifice. My plan balances the budget
within six years. We didn’t do it faster than that because we didn’t
want to disrupt the economy. We gave it off to a slow start and a
fast finish to give the economy time to recover. But we faced it and
we did it, and we believe it’s fair, shared sacrifice.
The one thing I have done is lay it squarely on the table in front
of the American people. You’ve had a number of occasions to see
in detail what the plan is, and at least you’ll understand it. I think
that’s fundamental in our country, that you know what you’re get-
ting into.Ross Perot on the Economy