Billionaire, Philanthropist, and Politician. Founder and former chief executive officer of Electronic Data Systems and Perot Systems, he also ran an independent presidential campaign in 1992 and a third-party campaign in 1996 establishing the Reform Party. Both campaigns were among the strongest presidential showings by a third party or independent candidate in United States history. In 1962, he founded Electronic Data Systems, a data processing service company. In 1984, General Motors bought a controlling interest in the company for $2.4 billion. He founded Perot Systems in 1988 and was an investor for NeXT, a computer company founded by Steve Jobs after he left Apple. Perot also became heavily involved in the Vietnam War POW/MIA issue, arguing that hundreds of American servicemen were left behind in Southeast Asia after the Vietnam War. During President George H.W. Bush's tenure, he became increasingly active in politics and strongly opposed the Gulf War and ratification of the North American Free Trade Agreement. In 1992, he announced his intention to run for president and advocated a balanced budget, an end to the outsourcing of jobs, and the enactment of an electronic direct democracy. A June 1992 Gallup poll showed Perot leading a three-way race against President Bush and presumptive Democratic nominee Bill Clinton. He withdrew from the race in July, but re-entered in early October after he qualified for all 50 state ballots. He chose Admiral James Stockdale as his running mate and appeared in the 1992 debates with Bush and Clinton. In the election, Perot received 18.9% of the popular vote, but did not win any electoral votes. He ran for president again in 1996, establishing the Reform Party as a vehicle for his campaign. He won 8.4% of the popular vote against President Clinton and Republican nominee Bob Dole. He did not seek public office again after 1996 and did not enter the 2000 Reform Party presidential primaries. He endorsed Republican George W. Bush over Reform nominee Pat Buchanan in the 2000 election and supported Republican Mitt Romney in 2008 and 2012. In 1986, he was the third American to receive the Winston Churchill Award for his efforts on behalf of American POWs in Vietnam in the 1960s and for organizing the rescue of two EDS employees from a prison in Iran. Also in 1986, he received the S. Roger Horchow Award for Greatest Public Service by a Private Citizen, an award given out annually by Jefferson Awards. On April 22, 2009, he was made an honorary Green Beret at the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. On September 18, 2009, the Texarkana Independent School District named him as a 2009 Distinguished Alumnus. In May 2009, he was appointed an honorary chairman of the OSS Society. On October 15, 2009, the U.S. Military Academy at West Point awarded him with the distinguished Sylvanus Thayer Award. In honor of his 80th birthday, the bridge connecting Walton and University drives in Texarkana, Texas, was named the H. Ross Perot Bridge. On April 20, 2010, in Kansas City, he was presented with the Distinguished Leadership Award from the Command and General Staff College Foundation, Inc., Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. On October 2, 2010, he was given the William J. Donovan Award from the OSS Society at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Washington, D.C. being the 26th recipient of the award. In September 2011, he accepted the Army Heritage Center Foundation's Boots on the Ground Award. On October 28, 2011, the Perot Museum of Nature & Science in Dallas announced it was naming a new species of the dinosaur genus Pachyrhinosaurus after the Perot family. The new species is named Pachyrhinosaurus perotorum. In 2009, Dell acquired Perot Systems for $3.9 billion and according to Forbes, Perot was the 167th richest person in the United States in 2016.