Businessman and activist, Henry Ross Perot (born 1930) founded the successful data processing company, Electronic Data Systems (EDS). He entered politics in 1992 as the Independent Party candidate for U.S. president.

Ross Perot was born in Texarkana, Texas, on June 27, 1930. His father was a cotton broker and horse dealer. The young Perot was much impressed by his father's negotiating skills and by his mother's discipline and religious principles. Perot grew up in Texarkana and spent one year at the local junior college. He then attended the U.S. Naval Academy, graduating in 1953, the president of his class. After graduation, he spent four years at sea.

At the Naval Academy Perot had received a basic education in engineering. He had no special training in electronics or computing. However, his personal qualities impressed an IBM representative who visited him on the aircraft carrier to which Perot was assigned. When Perot left...