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4:03
Ross Perot, billionaire and two-time independent presidential candidate, dies in Dallas
The man with the best turnout as an independent candidate in the history of the United States, a country marked by bipartisan Republicans — Democrats, has just died at the age of 89. Accustomed to balancing his large investments and ventures with his love of home, he passed away at his home in Dallas with his family.
One of the family spokesmen explained that the billionaire had been battling leukemia for five months. His age prevented him from surviving the deadly disease a little longer. He leaves behind his wife, Margot, and an offspring of 5 children and 16 grandchildren.
An image of the American dream
The reason for his relatively good results in politics may be due to the way in which Perot managed to rise in life, starting from practically nothing as a newspaper delivery man and managed to become one of the richest men in the United States, on more than one occasion. His foolproof patriotism was on display and this also benefited his image.
Being a boy of just 12 years old, Ross Perot was already working delivering newspapers, he used a small pony to save time and this allowed him to extend his service to new routes, with which he learned from a young age and took advantage of the ways to obtain better profits by working hard.
His first job as an adult as a computer salesman at IBM made clear the material that man had, in a month he achieved the company's annual goal. Feeling confident, he proposed to his boss ways to improve the company's performance and sales, but his proposals were rejected.
EDS is born
At just 32 years old and with $1,000 of his savings, Perot founded Electronic Data Systems, his conservative manners became the norm in the company and EDS was that kind of classic company whose workers always had to wear a suit and tie, all women had to wear skirts (unless the weather made it inconvenient).
A contract with the federal government sent EDS stock skyrocketing and within a few years this fighter had a company worth hundreds of millions of dollars. His arrival in politics when his fortune amounted to billions of dollars surprised many, but the cleverness of this man brought him incredible results.
19% of votes against Bush Sr. and Bill Clinton
If any reader understands anything about American politics, they will quickly understand the magnitude of this man's achievement. Competing with the Ace of the Republican Party, George Bush Sr., image of the ideals of that party, and his Democratic counterpart, Bill Clinton, who at the time were respectively the ideal figure of each of the most powerful parties in the US, and achieving 19 % of votes is something incredible.
Not since Roosevelt's time had such a rise been seen for someone who did not fit into the traditional political systems in the US. His cunning was demonstrated when an interviewer (perhaps aligned with one of the traditional parties) tried to bring his political inexperience to the fore and affect him:
"I have no experience in accumulating a debt of $4 trillion". I have no experience in the paralyzed government, where nobody takes responsibility for anything and everyone blames others. "Perot used to say, taking a positive distance from the most criticized of the known parties".
In this election, Ross Perot retired in the middle of the campaign due to certain "external threats" that he did not want to specify, in the end he rejoined with that great result. Four years later, in his last bid for the presidency, he won 8% of the vote.
His subsequent support for Republican candidates made some doubt his "independent path", but having achieved 19% of the vote in his first election cannot be framed as a tactic to subtract Democratic votes, in reality he was seeking victory over both parties.
Among his contributions is the support for Vietnam veterans, his always patriotic attitude has earned him awards given by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs James Peake in 2009, among other recognitions.
Former President Busch, speaking of his death, said "America and Texas have lost a strong patriot" with Perot's death. Likewise, the current vice president of Donald Trump, Mike Pence, stated in a tweet that Ross Perot "was a true patriot and a strong supporter of our military."
