Biography On Ross Perot Essay Research Paper

Biography On Ross Perot Essay, Research Paper Ross PerotBIOGRAPHYRoss Perot was born June 27, 1930, in Texarkana, Texas. He grew up in Texarkana where he attended public schools and Texarkana Junior College. Perot # 8217 ; s parents, Ross and Lulu May Perot, have been major influences in both his and his sister Bette # 8217 ; s lives. Although the household lived in modest fortunes, Perot has repeatedly stated that he was born rich because of his parents. Get downing at age seven, Perot worked at assorted occupations throughout his boyhood, including interrupting Equus caballuss, selling Christmas cards, magazines, and garden seeds, purchasing and selling bridles, saddles, Equus caballuss and calves, presenting newspapers, and roll uping for classified ads. He entered the United States Naval Academy in 1949 and graduated in 1953. While at the Naval Academy, he served as category president, president of the honor commission, and battalion commanding officer. After graduation, Perot served at sea for four old ages on a destroyer and an aircraft bearer. In 1956, he married Margot Birmingham from Greensburg, Pennsylvania, whom he met while a midshipman at the Naval Academy. Upon his honest discharge from the Navy in 1957, Ross and Margot settled in Dallas where he went to work for IBM # 8217 ; s informations treating division as a salesman. Margot taught school during the early old ages of their matrimony. In 1962, she loaned Perot $ 1,000 from her nest eggs account to get down a one-person information processing company. He named the company Electronic Data Systems. Today, EDS is a multi-billion dollar corporation using more than 70,000 people. Ross and Margot have been married for 40 old ages. They live in Dallas and have five kids # 8211 ; Ross, Jr. , Nancy, Suzanne, Carolyn, and Katherine. The Perots presently have nine grandchildren. In 1969, the U.S. authorities asked Perot to find what action might be taken to better the brutal intervention our POW # 8217 ; s were having in Southeast Asia. He worked on this undertaking for the following four old ages, puting himself and his household at considerable personal hazard, until the captives were released in 1972 at the terminal of the Vietnam War. In acknowledgment of his eff orts, Perot received the Medal for Distinguished Public Service, the highest civilian award presented by the Department of Defense. When two EDS employees were taken surety by the Persian authorities in 1979, Perot directed a successful deliverance mission composed of EDS employees and led by Colonel Arthur # 8216 ; Bull # 8217 ; Simons. Perot personally went into Iran and inside the prison where his associates were held. Noted writer, Ken Follett, compose a best merchandising novel, On Wingss of Eagles, about the deliverance. An NBC Television miniseries was subsequently made about this event. Subsequently that same twelvemonth, the governor of Texas requested Perot # 8217 ; s aid in covering with the turning job of the usage of illegal drugs in the province. Perot led the Texans # 8217 ; War on Drugs Committee that proposed five Torahs to do Texas the least desirable province for illegal drug operations. All five measures were passed by the legislative assembly and signed into jurisprudence. In 1982, another Texas governor asked for Perot # 8217 ; s aid to better a deteriorating state of affairs # 8212 ; the quality of public instruction in the province. Acknowledging that a excellent educational system is the foundation for economic betterment, Perot led the attempt to reform the school system. This plan resulted in major legislative alterations and betterments in Texas public schools. Perot accepted another challenge in 1984 when he sold EDS to General Motors for $ 2.5 billion. The ownership that he retained in the company made him GM # 8217 ; s largest single shareholder and a member of the board of managers. After major dissensions over the quality of GM cars, Perot resigned from the GM board in 1986. In 1988, he started a new computing machine service company, Perot Systems. Today that company operates in the United States and Europe. In 1984, Perot purchased the lone transcript of the Magna Carta that has been allowed to be taken out of Great Britain. It has been placed on loan to the National Archives in Washington, D.C. , where it is displayed alongside the U.S. Constitutio n and the Bill of Rights. The Perot household is actively involved in charitable and civic activities. They have given over $ 100 million to assorted causes.