1723 Text of "Conversation with Ross Perot" To: National Desk, Political Writer Contact: Perot '92 Committee, 214-716-6516 DALLAS, Oct. 23 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The following is the text of tonight's "televised conversation with Ross Perot." Ross: Throughout my life few people have been as blessed as I have. I have literally been able to live the American Dream and in the process of doing that I have lived completely across the economic spectrum. This has allowed me to understand what's really important in life and I can tell you tonight that tangible things mean nothing compared to your family and your loved ones. Tonight I would like for you to meet my family. Of all the many good things that have happened in my life, and I have certainly been richly blessed, Margot and the children are the best. These pictures tell it all. In October 1952, almost exactly 40 years ago, I met Margot on a blind date while I was at the Naval Academy. Margot: Well I had a very good friend at college who wanted me to meet him and -- she was going out with a friend of his -- and she kept telling me that she was sure that I would like him and all those things. So, she arranged a blind date and I was very reluctant about that but we did agree to all get together one evening and I met Ross and we went to a dance. Ross: I fell in love that night. Four years later I finally convinced Margot to marry me -- in 1956. Margot: There was always something going on at the Naval Academy and he was definitely a leader there. I may not have recognized it initially, but his friends certainly would say things like, "Do you know what kind of a great guy that you are going out with?" They were always telling me something great about him and I recognized as time when on that he was a very strong person. He is three-and-a-half years older than I am, so there was a difference in maturity, I had a lot of growing up to do, when I think back. He was mature, he always knew what he was about, he was strong in his beliefs and self confident and I really appreciated that about him. Ross: Margot is a saint. And then if you look at our children all five are just too good to be true. Katherine is our youngest daughter. Katherine's nicknames when she was a little girl were "Special K" and "Top Cat", and certainly she is both. I have a thousand special happy memories of Katherine, but my most vivid memory is the day that we were leaving the church at my mother's funeral. Katherine was just a little girl. She loved her grandmother. Katherine: Grandmother died when I was pretty young. She was such an important factor in my father's life. She was such a strong and incredible woman, very religious and just such an incredible role model. I really didn't understand her death and things like that. I have never seen my father cry before and I felt like the only - -the best thing I could do to make him feel better was to say, "I'm going to be just like grandmother. You won't miss grandmother because I'm going to be just like her." Ross: Suzanne's nickname was "BBD," beautiful, blonde daughter and "Special Angel." "Special Angel" was my main nickname for Suzanne. Favorite story on Suzanne -- I could tell you a thousand. A little girl climbed up in my lap one November and puts her face about five inches from mine, puts her arms around me and said, "Daddy, there's just one thing that I want for Christmas." Suzanne: I had read, I guess in Time magazine, about how the police horses in New York City were getting too old to continue working; however, the city couldn't afford to retire the horses and to buy new ones to take their place. So Dad asked me what I wanted for Christmas, and every year he would always go to each of us one at a time and because Dad bought our Christmas presents. So when it was my turn he said, "What do you want for Christmas this year Suzanne?" And I said, "Dad, all I want is for you to buy police horses for New York City." And I guess that was probably a pretty big request for a seven or eight year old, but I guess he thought about it and decided that was something that he wanted to do. Ross: If I have a little girl that unselfish, I should do it. We called the New York City police and they sent two officers down. And we later sent up 16 horses, 16 saddles, 16 bridles -- the whole works, and then they invited little Susie, our "Special Angel," to spend a day with the New York City police. Suzanne: I was the guest of New York City for the day and was treated like a queen, which I will never get over. As a gift in return, I got to name four of the horses and we named them: Freedom, Lone Star, Liberty, and Ross. And Ross, I understand, is the only horse still on active duty today. This was several years ago and he's the only one still alive and kicking, as they say, and he works riot control in Times Square. Ross: Then we go down to Caroline and her nickname is "Super K." Caroline: I happened to be traveling with him home, we had both left a family trip early. He had needed to come home on business. We were flying alone on an airplane and I know that he had a lot to do, but instead he wrote me a poem. It took most of the trip, and it was a pretty simple poem and I still have it. It was really sweet and I think I was about five, and it was about on the level of a five year old and it was about my life and it was great. Ross: She's an animal lover. We had lots of animals around the house. Horses, dogs, you name it. All kinds of animals over the years. We never had any cats because I don't like cats, but Caroline wanted a cat. She came in one day and she said, "If I don't have a cat, when I grow up I'm going to buy my own house and I'll have 150 cats." So Caroline has a cat from that point on and that cat lived to be fifteen years old. Caroline went off to college, got married and so on and so forth and you know who had to take care of her cat. So she had the last laugh on the cat. Nancy is our oldest daughter. As a child her nicknames was "Fabulous Little Nan." It still is. The best way I could describe Nancy is to say that Nancy is a lot like my mother; Nancy, when she is with her children, is my mother. She has all of her characteristics. Nancy: We really had such an idyllic childhood. It was just, we were so fortunate that we had two parents that just made up the center of their universe. Family was, by far, the most important thing in their lives. I think just the everyday things are probably my fondest memories. Just being together and going to the lake, water skiing, whatever it happened to be, but we just spent a lot of time together as a family. Ross: My son Ross -- I live in his shadow. Ross, Jr: That's just a family joke. I like to live in his shadow. Ross: He is a world-class young business man now, a world-class father of three and my best friend. My best friend in the world, just like my Dad was my best friend. Ross, Jr: When I was born we lived on Linden Lane and he was still a salesman for IBM. Mom and I would get in the only car that we had and we would drive Dad to work every morning and pick him up every afternoon at the old IBM building. Suzanne: We were all animal lovers but I had a pet collie that he had given me for Christmas. I was very attached to this collie and the collie turned out to be a roamer, and whenever we were all in school the collie'd go and wander around the neighborhood. One day this collie had been gone for probably a three- or four-day stretch and we were all very concerned at this time that he might not come home. So, I remember vividly Dad making up these signs that said, "Reward, lost collie, child's pet." And he went over to Kinko's copies, or the copy machine place, and ran them off and got on his Schwinn and rode all over town putting these signs up on the light posts and around the town, and sure enough we did end up getting him back. Ross, Jr: Every Saturday Dad would mow the grass or take care of the yard and I would ride on his shoulders as he mowed the grass. I think we were riding horses -- as soon as he could afford to buy a horse, we had a horse, but Dad and I still ride. We try to ride at least once a week and on Saturday mornings, and it's a great family tradition and I have my boys out riding with us and all four of us ride around the pasture. Ross: Years ago a person asked me how did it feel to be successful? My children were small and I said, "I won't know until my children are grown. But if they turn out to be good citizens with a deep concern for other people and a willingness to do something about that concern then I'll feel like a big success." They're all grown, they are great and I now feel successful because of what they are. Margot: The years that we raised our children are the years that we look back and think they are the happiest years of our lives -- and he misses them. But thank goodness we have some grandchildren taking their places because he was accustomed of having all the children sitting around the table at night and talking about all the day's activities, and he was the first one to talk about what they did. He never talked about what he did. It was a long time before the children realized that he was a success in his own right because he made them feel so important. Suzanne: One day after church, we always parked our car in the same place, we were walking back to the car after the church service and we noticed a duck in a pond that had fallen over a damn and was separated. It was a baby duck, and it was separated from the rest of it's family. It was on one side of the steep water and it was definitely headed for disaster. We went home and he got an old rubber raft out of the garage, put on his old clothes and the whole family went back to church. He blew up his rubber raft, he went into the pond and we saved the little duck and returned it back to its family. Caroline: I don't recall the age but I think I was pretty young when I realized that he was special or different from most people. Not because Mom and Dad ever told us, but because when we were in public places people would always approach him. And when I was young, it was during the height of all the POW -- his involvement in the POW issue. Suzanne: I remember all the POW things and when he was going to taking the Christmas presents to all the POWs. I remember watching that on television and I have a vivid memory of seeing the airplane with the big red bow around it. I guess probably from that Moment I realized how special he was and how he was leaving our family at holiday time to help so many other families and so many men that needed him so much and what he was trying to do. Margot: He completely put himself into that, as you know. He certainly stayed to the course when it comes to working on that problem. But I remember how he gathered the children -- and we prayed for them every night, and the children, the older children were the brave ones for the POWs. He led by example. Ross: Margot and I are no happier today than we were the day that we came into Dallas with everything that we owned in our car. We had one another then and we have one another and five great children, six wonderful grandchildren, three great sons-in-laws, one great daughter-in-law. Nobody could be happier than we are because of those things. The money doesn't bring the happiness. Ross Jr: To us it was a very normal American household, and we didn't know that Dad was so special until Fortune came out with that article. Before that article came out, Dad took us into the living room and sat us all down and said, "Children, this magazine is going to print this story and they are going to talk about the money that I have. I want you to understand that money is not important, it doesn't mean that much to us and if any of your friends ask about it just say, "it's no big deal" and try to get them to forget about it. Nancy: They kept that a big secret from us a long time. And I think -- and for the most wonderful reasons. They were so busy trying to convince us that we were so special and we were so capable of doing anything that I think they always kept the focus off of themselves which was, again, a very generous thing for a parent to do. I would say that I certainly realized as I became an adult that Dad was an exceptional man. Ross: I had a reporter one time come in from Australia. He was interviewing me with the understanding he would not ask my children any questions. Ross walked through the room and he said, "How does it feel to be the son of one of the wealthiest men in the country?" Ross was about ten then and he looked at him and didn't blink an eye and he said, "Mister, all I know is I get $.25 a week." If they wanted money they had to work for money. So they grew up working. If they wanted money they would work for it and earn it and get it. Nancy: As we were growing up my father received countless awards for his business achievements and humanitarian efforts. He always kept this a little bit of a secret from his children because he always wanted to focus on our achievements instead. Caroline: He would just arrive at home at night with something in his hand, you know, or sitting on the kitchen counter so I would read it. Or it would end up hanging on the wall somewhere and he was very proud of all of these awards, but he would never ever say, "Look at what I got." Ross Jr: He was so concerned that his honor's would somehow hurt us, because we would feel like we would have to match him, that he hid that stuff. And I would have to go to in a closet and look at all of it and when he was gone I'd look in his closet and look at it and say, "Boy, this guy is really something." Nancy: My Dad is the first recipient of the Raoul Wallenberg Award. Given to him for his tireless efforts on behalf of his fellow man. For unmatched courage during trouble times. For devotion to the improvement of the quality of life for all individuals. And for fortitude and conviction to act while others only watched. The George Washington Award was given to Dad for his efforts to eliminate drugs in the State of Texas. And he received the Jefferson Award for a lifetime of public service. The Department of Defense awarded my father this medal. It's a Distinguished Medal of Honor for his work on behalf of the POW's during the Vietnam War. It is the highest award that the Defense Department can give to a civilian. Dad's the only businessman to receive the Winston Churchill Award. It was presented by Prince Charles. And he was one of the youngest men ever to be honored by the National Business Hall of Fame. This is the Arleigh Burke Award. It reads, to Ross Perot for outstanding leadership, personal integrity, professional achievement and unselfish dedication to America. These words sum up everything Dad stands for. Ross Jr: He never pressed his children to do what he did. He never encouraged us to go to a certain school. He never encouraged us to go into a certain career. I remember when we were growing up he said, "It's very important for you to do what you want to do. If you want to be a fireman, be the best fireman. If you want to be a policeman, be the best policeman you can. If you want to be a businessman, etc." He said, "Whatever you want to do I want to help you to be successful in your career." Ross: Great young man. When I first knew that he had what it took he was riding horses competitively, broke his leg, had a chance to win the world championship, rode that entire season with a full leg cast under tremendous pain and won the world championship. That was stick to it in his gut perseverance, all those qualities that you need to make it. Ross Jr: I worked during the summers planting bushes and doing any kind of work that a high school student could do. And Dad very early trained me that it is very important to work by the job and not by the hour. So I would always negotiate a deal where I could get paid by the job and try to make more money if I worked harder. Then in college I started one business which was a shirt company. I use to sell shirts on campus. I went to New York and bought the lines of shirts and had them delivered into Vanderbilt and that was a good business. And I used to park cars at school which was -- that was nice cash business. Ross: In college the end of his first year he went to jump school at Fort Benning, got his jump wing. Then he went on a Navy cruise with Navy ROTC. Then at the end of his junior year he went to the first thirteen weeks of Marine Officer Training. Right after he got out of school he came in and said, "Dad, I don't want to take a trip. I want to learn how to fly the helicopter." Ross Jr: It was Aug. 2, 1982. I had read in The Dallas Morning News that an Australian named Dick Smith was going to be the first man to fly a helicopter around the world and he took off from the Bell factory in Hurst to do it and that was what the newspaper article was about. I was a helicopter pilot at the time and I was surprised, number one, that the trip hadn't been done. I assumed that all of those records had been broken already. Number two, I was amazed that an American wasn't doing it and I felt like that since it was American technology, the pioneer, the whole helicopter art because it was really the Vietnam War effort pushed helicopter technology to the point where you could even think about flying a helicopter around the world. I though an American ought to do it first. I called Jake over and I said, "Jake what do you think?" And Jake and I had been flying together for a while and Jake said, "let's do it." Ross: They came in, Ross Jr. came in the first time by himself, and said, "We really want to do this. We want this record to belong to our country." I said, "Ross I don't want to loose you and this helicopter is not designed to fly across a big lake much less sixteen or seventeen oceans." He said, "Dad we can do it and we want to do it." And I said, "No son, I don't want to loose you." And he looked right at me and he said, "You raised me to be this way and now you don't like me the way I am." So he had me. Ross Jr: He's a father and he always worries about his children and he always worries about things I'm going to do so I found out that it's a lot better just not to tell him and just go do it and then he doesn't worry about it. And on that helicopter trip he loved to tell the story about how much Mom worried about us going around the world. Well the truth was Mom didn't worry much, Dad was the poor guy that was worried the whole time. Ross: The helicopter in now in the Air and Space Museum. There's a video of his meeting there and him calling me and at the end of the call this 24 year old young man surrounded by Air Force Majors and Colonel, with out any sense of embarrassment at all said, "I love you Dad and tell mother I love her." And that's Ross Jr. Ross Jr: I want to be like him probably because he never wanted me to be like him, if that makes sense to you. He was the kind of man that I wanted to be like. He is my hero and if I can have a good family like he's had then I will be a successful man. What I tell my friends and I tell my sisters is if I can offer the same opportunities to my children that my father offered to me then I will be successful. Suzanne: One thing that I think is so sweet - in my family we never hunted. We never fished or hunted or anything like that and I remember asking once, "Dad, why don't you hunt and why don't you fish" And he said, "You know, I don't like to kill things." And that has really always meant a lot to me and I though - I don't think I've ever even seen him step on a bug. So here's this big strong man that I think the press tries to build up as this kind of bigger than life character and he really has this warm, soft, sweet, sweet, caring side. Nancy: His generosity I think is legendary. He's known for his -- from the grandest acts to the most private things that no one really ever knows about -- he cannot just ever standby and see someone in need and not try to do something about it. Caroline: When our next door neighbor, one of our closest family friends, was in a car accident his father called and Dad was out there where the accident was probably within the hour out in West Texas and took charge of the situation. The situation needed taking care of and Dad, you know -- I think he's alive today because of it. Margot: Whenever possible he was home. And the children, it's interesting when I talk to them now and they think about their early years they think of us all sitting around the dinner table, I think that was that feeling of family to them. And we always had fun, he has a great sense of humor. And they look back, I'm delighted to say that they look back and say what fun they had growing up. Ross: Margot's goal is everybody's friend. Certainly I adore her, everybody knows that. She is a world class mother. Katherine: She is so sweet and just a very loving Mom. I probably hugged her ten times a day when living with her. She's just very affectionate and very attentive to everything that we were doing. Nancy: Now that I have children of my own I have an even greater respect of all of the many qualities that are called into play when you are a mother. And of course the mother of five children is just - when I just have two it's sort of beyond my imagination right now but she was a wonderful mother and I wish in every respect that I could be like her. Ross Jr: We all have nicknames for each other and Mom was "Super Mom" because she was a great mom. And as was building EDS and building his companies he certainly was intense on building those companies and it was up to Mom -- who would get us ready for school and Mom would really help raise us and take care of us during the day but also Mom was very supportive because when Dad came home at night everything was taken care of. When he came home at night he didn't have to worry about thing, the only thing he had to concern himself with was playing with his kids. As we were growing up every night about 6:15 or 6:30 we would hear the door open, he'd have this loud whistle and that was the word for all the kids to come running through the house, all five kids would come running downstairs and jump on him -- and those are great memories. So that's why she was "Super Mom" because she really did run a great home, she raised a great family and she was the one that allowed Dad to be successful. Margot: We always saved my salary, if we could do that back then. That's a little bit more difficult I think for families today but we saved my salary and lived on his salary and so when we needed the extra money and he needed charter EDS and needed $1,000.00 we took it from my savings account. So that has been the joke in the family that I was the one that started EDS and I always said to him, "Maybe I should own all the stock because it was my money that started it." But that's a family joke. Ross: Our children gave a Women's and Children's hospital in their mothers honor. And I don't cry easy but tear came in my eyes when they made this statement at the presentation. "It is our hope that every child born in hospital will have a mother just like ours." And if every child did what a world we would we would have. Ross Jr: I was in the Philippines and I saw Larry King in the Philippines, I guess it was two days after he made the original live show in the United States and no one called me and no one said that anything unique had gone on. I was watching Larry King in the Manila Hotel and I just about fell out of bed. I said, "Good grief, something has really happened since I've been gone." When I called Dad I said, "Dad I just finished watching Larry King, what's going on?" He said Ross, don't worry, King kept pushing me, I made the comment and I'm not sure... The American people aren't going to get this excited about me running for President. Katherine: He had gotten a letter from a man that simply wrote. "Dear Mr. Perot, I have just been laid off and this is a dollar from my last pay check" and then he wrote in enormous letters "just run!" Suzanne: I think he would be an excellent President. And I feel that I have been so lucky to have this great man for 28 years pretty much all to myself so I figured it's time that I share him with the rest of the country. But he really has been a great, great Dad and I know that he will be a great President. Nancy: I think he would make an outstanding President for all of the reasons that this country really needs a strong leader at this point. He is a man of clear vision and I think that is probably one of his most remarkable qualities is his clarity of vision. He also has terrific strength and it's a time when we need someone with terrific strength. And one of the most unique things about my father is his ability to inspire people. I think that is where he would probably be one of the greatest Presidents this country had ever had because if he had the opportunity to lead I think he could try inspire the American to find the greatness that's within them and to truly make this a country once again that is as great as it's capable of being. Ross Jr: He will be a man that will face the problem and fix the problem. He will be able to go to Washington -- it will be an untraditional presidency and if you look at it we need right now an untraditional presidency because we have a lot of systems and bureaucracy that has been set up since World War II is now no longer needed. You're going to have to have a man of guts and vision who can tackle and completely reshaped our government and can get it ready for the 21st. Century. That's what Ross Perot can do. Nancy: "I think he would make an outstanding President for all of the reasons that this country really needs a strong leader at this point. He is a man of clear vision, and I think that is probably one of his most remarkable qualities is his clarity of vision. He also has terrific strength and I think it is a time when we need someone with terrific strength. And one of the most unique things about my father is his ability to inspire people, and I think that is where he would probably be one of the greatest president's this country had ever had, is if he had an opportunity to lead, I think he could truly inspire the American people to find the greatness that is within them and truly make this a country once again that is as great as it is capable of being." Ross, Jr.: "He will be a man who will face the problem and fix the problem. He will be able to go to Washington. It will be an untraditional Presidency, and if you look at it, we need right now an untraditional President because we have a lot of systems and bureaucracy that has been with us since World War II that is now no longer needed. You are going to have to have a man of guts and vision who can tackle, and completely reshape, our government to get it ready for the 21st century. That's what Ross Perot can do." Margot: "I think he could inspire people to come to Washington and work on problems, and even those who are not already in the government. And I think those who are in Congress would also be inspired by his leadership, and I think that is the basic thing. It's leadership that we need in Washington. And so when you talk about the qualities of the President, every time I think of those good qualities, I think of Ross and think they are essential." Katherine: "I'd say he's a hero to so many people, and he's a hero to all of us in his family. I feel very lucky because this will be the first time I've voted in a Presidential election and I get to place my first vote for my father. It is just unique and fabulous." Margot: "Of course, I think one of the unique things about an independent candidate is that he would be truly independent and owe his allegiance only to the people who elected him. No special interest groups have provided any money for the campaign, and so he owes nothing to any particular group, which enables him to be very, very fair and objective about any issue that might come up. I think that is a very important thing, and I think that it's time that we have this; a man in Washington who only represents the people. Period." Ross, Jr.: "I think it just goes back to the man. He believes in his heart that we need to change some basic fundamentals about how our country is being governed and how our country is being run. If you will look at his history, if he believes that he is right, then that is all it takes" Katherine: "He has told me time and again, 'You know, everything looks crazy and all that, but the thing is, I'm doing it for you and your future.' So I'm so very lucky to have a Dad like that who thinks so much of my future." Caroline: "I think the words that would fit Dad's attitude towards life and towards everything he does are, 'If not me -- who? If not now -- when.'" Ross Perot: "Now you understand why I adore Margot and the children. They have been with me every step of the way in this campaign. Our family is honored that millions of Americans would sign petitions to put my name on the ballet in all 50 states. Our family feels strongly that we have a special obligation to serve you because we have been so fortunate. The family is unanimous in wanting me to continue this campaign as the servant of the American people. Tonight, you have met my children. I hope I will have an opportunity to know your children. You can, with absolute certainty, count on me night and day to serve the well-being of you and your children. You are being told that if you vote for me, you are throwing your vote away. You are throwing your vote away unless you vote your conscience. Don't waste your vote on traditional politicians who promise you everything to get elected, but never deliver. Just ask yourself, 'Who will face the issues? Who knows how to create jobs? Who knows how to manage money? Who belongs to you and not the foreign lobbyists and special interests?' Roughly half of the people in our great country who could vote don't even bother to vote. They protest by not voting. All of us must vote this year. When you vote for me, you are voting for all of the people in this country. You are voting for action and results. Not more gridlock. You are voting for our children and future generations. The choice is yours." -0- /U.S. Newswire 202-347-2770/