Ross Perot: The Man Who Refused to Leave His People Behind

Some time ago, I wrote about a man for whom I have enormous regard. Today, I want to look more closely at something I mentioned only briefly in that article: the rescue of two of his employees. I hope you enjoy their story.

Ross Perot, the Texas billionaire who founded Electronic Data Systems (EDS), later became one of the most successful independent presidential candidates in modern American history, winning nearly 19 per cent of the popular vote in 1992. But one of the most revealing episodes of his life took place long before he entered politics.

In late 1978, as Iran moved towards revolution, two EDS employees, Paul Chiapparone and Bill Gaylord, were imprisoned in Tehran. When efforts to secure their release through official channels failed, Perot organised and financed a private rescue mission led by retired US Army Colonel Arthur “Bull” Simons.

The mission became known as Operation HOTFOOT - Help Our Two Friends Out of Tehran.

It was a fantastic episode of courage, in my opinion: ingenuity and loyalty, carried out at considerable personal risk. It also revealed something about the man behind the fortune: when people working for him were in danger, Perot was not prepared to accept that nothing could be done. Unlike so many today... 

From Texas to the world of big business

Ross Perot was born on June 27, 1930, in Texarkana, Texas. His parents were Gabriel Ross Perot, a cotton broker, and Lulu May Perot. After attending the United States Naval Academy, he served as a naval officer before entering the business world.

From 1957 to 1962, Perot worked for IBM, gaining experience in the rapidly developing field of computer data processing. In 1962, he founded Electronic Data Systems, a company that helped organisations process and manage increasingly complex computer systems.

Paul Chiapparone and Bill Gaylord were working for EDS in Iran when a dispute over a government contract and allegations of corruption placed them in serious difficulty. At the same time, the political situation was deteriorating rapidly.

In December 1978, Perot had stopped EDS operations in Iran because the Iranian government owed the company approximately $5 million. Opposition to Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was gathering momentum, and the country was becoming increasingly unstable.

According to Perot's account, within 12 hours of his decision to withdraw his employees, Iranian authorities had taken the passports of two of them and detained them. The contract dispute deepened when the authorities demanded that EDS renegotiate its agreement, including a payment of $12.7 million through Iranian banks.

Whatever the details were surrounding the contract, the immediate reality was not flash: two EDS employees were behind bars in a country moving towards revolution. The Shah's government was crumbling, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini was gaining influence, and Tehran was becoming increasingly dangerous.

Perot appealed to the American government for help. In his later account, he expressed deep frustration at the lack of effective assistance. “The government wouldn't do anything for us,” he said.

He maintained that personal appeals to people in prominent positions had produced no solution. His criticism of the State Department was particularly cutting: he believed officials had failed to appreciate the urgency of the situation while events continued to overtake them.

This was no longer simply a commercial dispute. Two men who worked for him were imprisoned in a country on the brink of violent upheaval. Perot believed somebody had to act before their situation became even more dangerous.

If the usual channels could not get the job done, Perot would find another way.

Calling in Bull Simons

Perot turned to a man experienced in some of the most demanding military operations of his generation. Retired US Army Colonel Arthur D. “Bull” Simons was a respected special operations officer, known for his leadership, planning and ability to operate under extraordinary pressure.

Simons had led the 1970 raid on the North Vietnamese prisoner-of-war camp at Son Tay. The prisoners had been moved before the raiders arrived, but the mission was remembered for its unbelievable preparation and the courage of the men who took part.

Perot believed Simons was the man to lead the rescue. The team would include former military personnel and EDS employees with military experience. They would have to operate in a country where the government was losing control and anti-American sentiment was growing, without the protection or resources available to an official American force.

The original plan was mind boggling: Simons and his team intended to storm the Ministry of Justice building and get Chiapparone and Gaylord out. But intelligence gathered by the team revealed that the two men had been moved to Qasr Prison, outside central Tehran.

The plan had to change. In his later account, Perot described the importance Simons placed on choosing men with real combat experience. One criterion was that they had seen combat at close quarters and understood what it meant to make decisions under fire. This was a serious operation, not an exercise, and the team needed people who knew what they might face.

A prison, a revolution and a daring plan

The rescuers travelled to Tehran under the guise of conducting business. They gathered intelligence, established contacts and tried to understand the rapidly changing situation.

An Iranian EDS employee named Rashid was central to the revised plan. The intention was to help spark a riot that would bring a crowd of angry revolutionaries to Qasr Prison, overwhelm the authorities and create an opportunity for the prisoners to escape.

The plan depended human wit and improvisation under fire. Iran was in the grip of revolution, loyalties were shifting, and the authority of the old regime was rapidly disintegrating.

Then events changed again. As the chaos intensified, the prison guards abandoned their posts. Local sympathisers working with Perot's team seized the opportunity to help Chiapparone and Gaylord escape.

The two men were free, but they were not yet safe. They still had to get through the dangerous streets of Tehran and leave the country. The group made its way towards Turkey, a journey of approximately 500 miles, where Chiapparone and Gaylord were reunited with their families.

Operation HOTFOOT had succeeded.

Perot had financed a private rescue mission that brought his employees home while Iran was being transformed by revolution. The story later reached a wider audience through accounts by participants and Ken Follett's 1983 book, On Wings of Eagles, which was adapted into a television miniseries.

And what became of the two men?

Paul Chiapparone and Bill Gaylord made it safely home to the United States after their escape from Iran in February 1979. For Chiapparone, the experience left a lasting impression of Ross Perot. He later recalled being amazed that Perot had travelled halfway around the world simply to reassure two employees that he cared about them. In 1987, The Washington Post reported that Chiapparone was still working for EDS.

It is easy to remember the billionaire who organised the rescue, the retired colonel who led the team, and the remarkable events that made their escape possible. But at the heart of the story were two men imprisoned far from home, and a company chairman who refused to treat them as expendable.

For Ross Perot, bringing his people home was not simply a business obligation. It was a matter of principle.

Before the 444-day hostage crisis

The rescue took place during the turmoil of the Iranian Revolution, months before Iranian militants seized the US Embassy in Tehran on November 4, 1979, taking 66 Americans hostage. The crisis lasted 444 days.

A US military rescue attempt, Operation Eagle Claw, failed in April 1980 when a collision involving aircraft and a helicopter killed eight American servicemen. The remaining hostages were released on January 20, 1981. The contrast was stark: the official rescue attempt ended in tragedy, while Perot's privately organised operation had already brought his two employees home.

The businessman enters politics

Perot continued building his business interests. In 1984, General Motors purchased EDS in a deal valued at approximately $2.5 billion, making him one of America's wealthiest businessmen.

Yet his growing fortune did not remove his dissatisfaction with the way Washington operated. By the early 1990s, Perot was speaking out about the national debt, government spending, trade and what he saw as a political establishment more interested in preserving itself than solving the country's problems.

In 1992, he entered the presidential race as an independent candidate.

His campaign was unlike the traditional Republican and Democratic campaigns. A bit like Trum, in many ways.... he spoke directly to voters, used television to communicate his message and presented himself as a businessman who could bring practical discipline to government. He attracted Americans who were tired of the usual political arguments and believed neither major party was adequately addressing the nation's problems.

Perot's campaign gained extraordinary momentum. At various points, he was competitive in opinion polls with President George H. W. Bush and Democratic candidate Bill Clinton.

Then, in July 1992, Perot abruptly withdrew from the race. He gave public explanations involving the state of the campaign and the possibility of throwing the election into the House of Representatives. Later, he also said he had been concerned about reports of a possible attempt to embarrass his daughter, Caroline, and disrupt her wedding.

He returned to the race on October 1, with only weeks remaining before election day. Despite the interruption, he won nearly 19 per cent of the popular vote -close to 20 million votes - making his campaign one of the most successful independent presidential bids in modern American history.

In 1995, Perot founded the Reform Party and ran for president again in 1996. His second campaign attracted considerably less support, but his challenge to the established political order had already left its mark. He had given millions of Americans a way to express their dissatisfaction with Washington without simply choosing one of the two traditional parties.

A warning about America's future

Perot remained concerned about the direction of the United States long after his presidential campaigns ended. In 2012, he warned that the country was on an unsustainable course, with its international standing, standard of living and constitutional freedoms at stake. He believed a country could not ignore its problems indefinitely and expect them to disappear.

Perot died of leukaemia at his home in Dallas on July 9, 2019. He was 89.

His legacy is is quite frankly under valued today. 

His ability to mobilise disaffected voters and challenge the established political order cannot be cast aside. He was a wealthy businessman who believed he could make a difference, and millions of Americans were prepared to give him a hearing.

For me, however, the most revealing part of Ross Perot's life is not that he became a billionaire or ran for president. It is that, when two of his employees were imprisoned thousands of miles from home, he refused to regard their fate as somebody else's problem.

He put his own money behind a dangerous undertaking, brought in people with the skills to do the job, and persisted until the men were free. That was a very personal kind of leadership.

Ross Perot challenged the political establishment because he believed America could do better. Whether one agreed with his politics or not, his rescue of Paul Chiapparone and Bill Gaylord demonstrated something more fundamental than a campaign promise.

When two men needed him, he acted.

Perhaps that is one of the simplest tests of leadership, whether in business, government or our everyday lives. When people are depending on you, do you look for reasons nothing can be done, or do you look for a way to help?

Monty