You might remember him as the guy with the big ears and the charts. Or maybe you know him as the billionaire who somehow managed to get 19% of the popular vote in a presidential election without having a party behind him. Honestly, trying to answer who is Ross Perot is a bit like trying to describe a Texas tornado—he was fast, loud, and he definitely left a mark on everything he touched.
He wasn't just some rich guy playing at politics. He was a self-made tech pioneer long before "Silicon Valley" was a household term. He was a man who once hired a private commando team to break his employees out of an Iranian prison. He was a populist who predicted exactly what would happen to American manufacturing decades before it actually happened.
From Paperboy to IBM Powerhouse
Henry Ross Perot didn't start with a silver spoon. He was born in Texarkana during the Great Depression. His dad was a cotton broker, and Ross spent his childhood doing things like breaking horses and delivering newspapers on horseback. It’s the kind of "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" story that sounds like a cliché, but for him, it was just Tuesday.
After a stint in the Navy, he landed a job at IBM. This is where things get interesting. Back in the late 50s, IBM was the king of the mountain. But Perot was so good at selling that he hit his entire annual sales quota in just two weeks.
Two weeks.
He spent the rest of the year trying to convince his bosses that they should be selling services—actually helping companies use the computers—not just the hardware. IBM wasn't interested. They basically told him to sit down and be quiet.
So, naturally, he quit.
The Birth of EDS and the Billion-Dollar Bet
In 1962, with $1,000 borrowed from his wife, Margot, he started Electronic Data Systems (EDS). For the first year, he was rejected 77 times before he landed his first contract.
Eventually, though, he hit the jackpot. When the government created Medicare and Medicaid in the 60s, they had a massive paperwork problem. Perot realized his computers could handle it. EDS exploded. By the time he took the company public in 1968, the stock price jumped from $16 to $160 in a matter of days. Fortune magazine called him the "fastest, richest Texan" ever.
He ran EDS like a military unit. No booze, no affairs, and everyone wore white shirts and dark suits. If you worked for Ross, you were part of his army. And he took care of his soldiers.
The Great Escape: The 1979 Iran Rescue
If you want to understand who is Ross Perot, you have to look at what happened in 1979. Two of his EDS employees were caught up in a contract dispute in Iran and thrown into a Tehran prison. The U.S. government was dragging its feet.
Perot didn't wait.
He called up a retired Green Beret colonel named Arthur "Bull" Simons and asked him to lead a rescue mission. He didn't hire mercenaries; he used his own employees—guys who had military experience—to form a commando team. Perot even snuck into Iran himself, posing as a news courier, just to visit his guys in prison and tell them he was coming for them.
During the chaos of the Iranian Revolution, his team helped incite a riot at the prison. In the confusion, the two Americans escaped, and the team trekked across the border into Turkey. It’s the kind of stuff they make movies about (and they did—it’s called On Wings of Eagles).
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Why He Ran for President (Twice)
By the early 90s, Perot was frustrated. He saw the national debt spiraling and felt like the two-party system was just a big "country club" that ignored regular people.
In 1992, he went on Larry King Live and said he’d run for president if people in all 50 states got him on the ballot. He thought he was calling their bluff. Instead, a massive grassroots movement started.
He was unlike any candidate people had ever seen. He bought 30-minute blocks of primetime TV to give "infomercials" where he'd use a literal pointer and hand-drawn charts to explain the federal budget. People loved it. At one point in the summer of 1992, he was actually leading both George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton in the polls.
Then, he did something weird. He dropped out in July, claiming Republican operatives were going to sabotage his daughter's wedding. Then he jumped back in in October. Even with that bizarre "quitter" label hanging over him, he still pulled 19% of the vote. To this day, nobody has come close to that kind of third-party success.
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The "Giant Sucking Sound"
One of his most famous lines was about NAFTA. He warned that if the U.S. signed the trade deal, there would be a "giant sucking sound" of jobs heading south to Mexico. People laughed at him then. They called him a protectionist. But if you look at the Rust Belt today, a lot of folks think he was a prophet.
The Real Legacy of Ross Perot
So, when people ask who is Ross Perot, the answer isn't just "a billionaire."
He was a guy who forced the major parties to care about a balanced budget. He was a guy who showed that you could bypass the mainstream media and go straight to the voters (years before Twitter or YouTube existed). He was a philanthropist who gave millions to the military and medical research, usually without putting his name on the building.
He died in 2019 at the age of 89, leaving behind a fortune of about $4 billion and a political legacy that still echoes in every "outsider" candidate who tries to shake up the system.
Actionable Insights from the Perot Playbook
If you're looking to apply some of that "Perot Energy" to your own life or business, here are a few takeaways:
- Solve the "Paperwork" Problem: Perot didn't just build computers; he built systems to handle the mess that big organizations couldn't manage. Find the bottleneck in your industry and fix it.
- Loyalty is a Two-Way Street: He expected total dedication from his team, but he was willing to go into a war zone to save them. If you want a "ride or die" team, you have to be the first one to ride.
- Keep it Simple: Use the "chart and pointer" method. If you can't explain your business plan or your idea to a regular person in 15 minutes, it's probably too complicated.
- Don't Wait for Permission: Whether it was leaving IBM or launching a rescue mission, Perot didn't wait for the "establishment" to tell him it was okay to move.
Start by looking at your current projects through a "fiscal responsibility" lens. Are you spending resources on things that don't move the needle? Ross would tell you to "clean out the barn" and get back to basics.