Follett, Ken. On Wings of Eagles. New York: Penguin Books, 1984. 414 pages.
Ross Perot was one of IBM's top salesmen in 1962, when he founded
Electronic Data Systems (EDS), a computer services company. He took the
company public in 1968, which made his 78 percent of the stock worth $1.5
billion. In 1969 Perot flew to Hanoi with Christmas dinners for American POWs.
His interest in the POW issue continued, but his most famous adventure was
the rescue depicted in this book. In 1984 Perot sold EDS to General Motors
for cash, stock, and a seat on the GM board. When he began criticizing GM's
management, they bought him out to shut him up. In 1992 he challenged the
two-party system with a homespun message of patriotic concern about greed,
corruption, and overspending in high places, and the need to reduce the
deficit and rebuild America's productive capacity. Perot is treated with
disdain by self-satisfied media pundits and other Roman fiddlers, which has
convinced millions of ordinary Americans that he's doing something right.
Perot cooperated with author Ken Follett and allowed himself to be
depicted in NBC's film version of this book. In 1979 two American executives
who worked for EDS in Iran were arbitrarily imprisoned by the revolution.
Perot hired "Bull" Simons, a legend from the Green Berets, to plan and
execute a breakout. With the help of envelopes stuffed with his cash, Perot,
Simons, and a team of EDS employees managed to spring the two executives in
a series of high-risk escapades without anyone getting hurt.
ISBN 0-451-16353-2
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