On March 24, EDS announced it was seeking at least 1. If successful, EDS would own fifty-one percent of the Collins outstanding shares. Perot was certain it would work with the consent of the ten institutional stockholders who controlled more than a million shares of Collins. Within weeks, Collins feared that the only way to prevent the takeover was by merging with, it seemed, any other company but Perot's. Exploratory talks were held with Harris-Intertype Corp.
Perot had no choice but to withdraw the tender offer. Having avoided the only sure investment in his ailing company, Collins continued his apparent "anyone-but-Perot" merger search.
In , after talks with TRW fell through, North American Rockwell which later became Rockwell International finally stepped in with an investment offer that was finalized in September. Despite its initial promise to keep Collins management intact, Rockwell replaced Arthur Collins as president at the end of the first quarter of fiscal year Collins resigned January 14, , and started a new company.
In the end, he lost control of his thirty-nine-year-old company. After a three-year struggle, Collins succeeded only in saving it from Perot. Much might still be learned about Perot and CIA influence in Dallas business circles by further study of this largely forgotten, odd episode.
The same year Perot tried to take control of CIA contractor Collins Radio, he also became involved in activities that led to more direct covert operations. In , the Nixon administration asked Perot to determine what action might be taken to improve the treatment U. Perot continued to work on ways to help the POWs until the they were released at the end of the Vietnam War in According to Frank Snepp, a former CIA officer posted in Saigon, "Perot later acknowledged that the Vietnam mission was an insider deal from the start, conceived with the secret blessings of Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger as a way of maintaining the appearance of action on the POW issue when, in fact, there hadn't been any.
Continuing such high-level, secret contacts in the early s, Perot met a young Marine officer whose name would later become infamous in the minds of most Americans. Oliver North wanted to come to work for EDS, but Perot convinced him to stay in the Marines, which led to his later becoming the main villain in the Iran-Contra scandal. It would not be the last time Perot and North crossed paths, however.
In , two EDS employees were taken hostage by the Iranian government. Perot himself went to Iran and entered the prison where his men were held. Ken Follett wrote a best selling novel, On Wings of Eagles, about the rescue.
Later in , Governor William P. Clements, Jr. The group proposed five laws to deter illegal drug operations, all of which were passed by the legislature and signed into law. In the next decade, Perot continued similar activities in both Texas and Washington D.
Perot was not the first politically connected Texan to serve on this board. So did Bill Clements, who became Texas governor. North asked Perot to help finance the rescue of U.
His proposed reforms resulted in major legislative changes in Texas public schools. Meanwhile, Perot continued to established himself as someone who could bankroll Oliver North's off-the-shelf adventures. These involved more rescue attempts, many of which failed. According to The New York Times , Perot believed that the Bush campaign was going to start a rumor about his daughter's sexuality.
Perot returned to the race in October with only weeks left before the election. Despite this setback, he managed to garner nearly 19 percent of the popular vote. Perot was the first independent candidate since Teddy Roosevelt in to receive this large of a share of the popular vote. Still the lion's share of voters chose Democrat Bill Clinton.
Perot went on to found the Reform Party in Perot retired from the day-to-day operations of Perot Systems in , though he stayed on as the company's chairman. His son, Ross Jr.
It was later sold to Dell in Perot didn't stay out of politics completely, however. In , he threw his support behind Republican candidate Mitt Romney in the presidential race. We strive for accuracy and fairness. If you see something that doesn't look right, contact us! Subscribe to the Biography newsletter to receive stories about the people who shaped our world and the stories that shaped their lives.
Holmes was the alias of one of America's first serial killers. During the Columbian Exposition, he lured victims into his elaborate 'Murder Castle. Henry the Navigator, a 15th century Portuguese prince, helped usher in both the Age of Discovery and the Atlantic slave trade. Henry IV granted religious freedom to Protestants by issuing the Edict of Nantes during his reign as king of France, from to According to legend, Betsy Ross made the first American flag.
Despite a lack of credible evidence to support this, she remains an icon of American history. Known for his fast and easy "wet-on-wet" painting technique, Bob Ross reached millions of art lovers with his popular television program 'The Joy of Painting.
Rapper Rick Ross has reportedly been hospitalized, with a machine working for his heart and lungs, after being found unresponsive at home. The company, at a time when the world was moving from paper to electronic records, managed computer networks for high-profile customers such as NASA and various government departments. When EDS first went public in , Perot became a multi-millionaire overnight. As an employer he was known for his quirks - particularly his strict dress code.
Workers had to wear white shirts and ties and were forbidden from having moustaches or beards. But this strict dress code did not reveal an uncaring attitude. In fact, on one occasion, Perot went to extraordinary lengths to protect his staff. In , when two of his employees were jailed in Iran over a contract dispute just before the Islamic Revolution, he financed a private commando rescue.
The mission was commanded by Col Arthur Simons, a retired special forces officer. A riot was instigated at the prison gates and, in the ensuing chaos, the rescue team snuck the employees out. That raid inspired a best-selling book and a television series.
Perot also championed patriotic causes, and first became known to Americans outside of the business world in the s when he claimed that hundreds of missing soldiers had been left behind and imprisoned after the Vietnam War. But it wasn't until that Perot became a household name. Having never held public office, he announced on a talk show that he was running for president as an independent candidate. He built a dedicated following with his populist rhetoric and called for balanced budgets and an end to the outsourcing of jobs abroad.
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