The cause of death has since been reported as leukemia. He was an interesting man whose ideas on so called 'free trade' and finance were dismissed by the PTB despite his showing as an independent candidate for president.

Tuesday, 09 July 2019
Ross Perot, Billionaire Who Won 19 Percent of Popular Vote in '92, Is Dead
Written by Luis Miguel

Ross Perot, Billionaire Who Won 19 Percent of Popular Vote in 1992, Is Dead

America has lost one of its most legendary — and controversial — political giants. Henry Ross Perot, the Texas billionaire who ran two disruptive independent campaigns for the U.S. presidency in the '90s, died on Tuesday after a five-month battle with leukemia. Perot was diagnosed in February and the month after nearly died from a secondary infection.

Perot is best remembered for winning 19 percent of the popular vote as an independent in the 1992 presidential election — better than any third-party candidate since Theodore Roosevelt in 1912.

The 5´6˝ businessman, known for his drawl and implacable personality, focused largely on fiscal issues in his bid against President George H.W. Bush and then-Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton.

Among Perot’s most prominent platforms was his opposition to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which during the 1992 race had yet to be ratified.

He famously condemned the agreement during the second debate in 1992: “If you're paying $12, $13, $14 an hour for factory workers and you can move your factory South of the border, pay a dollar an hour for labor, ... have no health care — that's the most expensive single element in making a car — have no environmental controls, no pollution controls and no retirement, and you don't care about anything but making money, there will be a giant sucking sound going south.”

Along with stopping the transfer of American jobs overseas, Perot believed in balancing the budget, reducing the national debt, and giving tax breaks to new businesses. He also opposed U.S. involvement in the Persian Gulf War.

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https://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/po...e-in-92-is-dead

Reading about Perot I came across the story of On Wings of Eagles.


RESCUE FROM IRAN URSINUS SPEAKER CREDITS HIS BOSS, H. ROSS PEROT
SCOTT BIEBER

The mercenary rescue of two American workers held prisoner by Iranian revolutionaries 10 years ago - a rescue orchestrated by the company boss, feisty Texas billionaire H. Ross Perot - was described last night at Ursinus College by one of the hostages.

It was Dec. 28, 1978 in Tehran. The Shah of Iran's government had crumbled. Islamic revolutionaries were taking over. Mobs controlled the streets. All was chaos.

Paul J. Chiapparone was a 39-year old technician and businessman working in Iran for EDS, a Texas computer company. He was installing computer systems for the government when the revolution hit. All company employees were taken out of the country but the Iranians would not give Chiapparone and fellow employee William Gaylord passports to leave.

Chiapparone told several hundred listeners at Ursinus's Wismer Hall that perhaps the Iranians wanted to keep them in the country to continue installing the computers after order was restored. "We don't know," he said.

When he and Gaylord went to negotiate for the passports, the revolutionaries arrested them and threw them in jail. Bail, or ransom, was set at $12.7 million.

The Iranians insisted that the money be paid through Iranian banks. EDS was ready to pay the money but the banks were in turmoil and not able to assure the transfer of money, he said.

The U.S. State Department and U.S. embassy in Tehran did not know what to do, said Chiapparone. But Perot, "the tough little Texan," knew.

He recruited a team of mercenaries from company employees who had war experience in Vietnam. He found retired Col. Arthur "Bull" Simmons to lead them in the rescue. Employee teams were also set up at company headquarters and in Turkey, the escape destination.

The plan was to forcibly rescue the two men from the Ministry of Justice prison. But they were soon moved to a huge fortress jail with 11,000 other prisoners that made use of military force impossible, said Chiapparone.

All this time, EDS employees who were negotiating for their release, including Perot, were allowed to meet with the two hostages.

"The first night in the Ministry of Justice prison we were in a holding tank that was kind of scary," said Chiapparone. "After that, once the first guy came back and told me what was happening, I felt fairly reasonable things would be OK."

It would be 46 days until the rescue was made. The plan now was to incite the mob to storm the prison fortress and escape in the chaos. Rashid, an Iranian national, worked the mob, telling them that the prison held prisoners of the Shah.

Chiapparone said he never saw the actual storming. It was easy to flee with the 11,000 other prisoners through the confusion and gunfire, which was mostly fired in the air.

With Rashid leading, they walked and hitchhiked 10 miles to safety in Tehran, where they met with the five-member rescue team that would escort them 500 miles to the Turkish border.

After three days hiding out, they took off in two Land Rovers they bought for $20,000. Air flight was considered too risky because of the chance of being shot down, according to Chiapparone.

During the two-day trek over mountainous terrain, they were stopped at almost every village by revolutionary guards. They had a forged letter from revolutionary leaders saying that they were American businessmen leaving the country and were to be given an escort. It helped a little, Chiapparone said. But the guards still put a gun to Col. Simmons's temple and interrogated him.

Chiapparone said Simmons was a hero. Chiapparone didn't realize it at the time, he said, but the overland journey was more dangerous than being in Tehran.

"In virtually every town we got arrested. There was a mud-hut village in the middle of nowhere. They could have killed us all and no one would have ever found us. But once they believed us, they were very courteous."

In two days they reached the Turkish border and were met by the other EDS rescue team.

They went on to West Germany and then back to the United States. Chiapparone said he went back to work the next day.

The rescue was portrayed in a book and a TV miniseries called "On the Wings of Eagles."

Chiapparone is now a vice president and board member of EDS and works in Detroit.

The company set up a trust fund in the name of the late Col. Simmons for the children of the servicemen killed in the aborted attempt to rescue the 400 U.S. hostages soon after Chiapparone and Gaylord made it home.

https://www.mcall.com/news/mc-xpm-1988-1...1677-story.html