When we got to Dallas, we had all our belongings in the trunk of the car. But we were rich because we had each other. The first apartment we ever rented, I agreed to cut the grass to cut the rent. Margot was teaching school. We figured if we saved all her money teaching school [$300 a month], we’d save money. And we did. I was very successful as an IBM salesman. And that has nothing to do with me. It has everything to do with selling umbrellas when it’s raining. It was the beginning of the computer industry. Everybody was buying computers. And all these myths about my sales record can be basically summed up by saying I worked all day. You could sell your computer quota in a half-day. If you worked hard all day, you could run up quite a record. When [my son] Ross was born, I bought Margot a $1,000 string of pearls. That was all I had in the bank. If she could just keep one piece of jewelry, guess which one she’d keep.

So, Margot’s $1,000 started EDS. That’s the only capital that went into EDS until it went public in 1968. The story of my net worth is that everybody thought the idea was so bad, nobody wanted to invest in it. I was stuck with the whole thing. Margot has no interest in money, couldn’t care less. Years go by, and one night she asked in a very sweet voice, “Will you explain something to me? If I put all the money into EDS, why does half of it belong to you?” I may be the only man in Texas who ever enjoyed explaining community property to his wife.

In the case of General Motors, I was their biggest individual stockholder. Virtually everybody on the board who just staged the coup was there when I was there. I could clearly see what was happening. I made speeches to the board about the only insurance is to build the best cars in the world. But here is what I didn’t have in those instances that I will have if and when I do this job [as president]. I did not have the stockholders standing shoulder to shoulder with me. If and when I do this job, it will be because the American people come out of nowhere and put me in the job. I have said over and over again that Solomon, the wisest man in the world, couldn’t get this job done alone. The voters are going to have to stay in the room after November. If they do, anything is possible.

When people say, can you govern, my response is, Compared to whom? I haven’t spent 20 years up there like the president has. But I think I understand something about the Constitution: the Congress and the White House are equal. If you and I are equal, we can only get something done by working together.

You mentioned the navy. I went around the world under the command of a textbook captain. We didn’t have any problems. His replacement was a very unusual man. The reason I haven’t talked about it is out of deference to him. I was in charge of the crew’s recreation fund. He wanted me to give him part of that money to redo his cabin. I wouldn’t do it. I was also in charge of narcotics and the liquor that would be given to people if they went into cold water. If we were at sea any length of time, he wanted liquor. I wouldn’t give it to him. Here was a lieutenant j.g. saying to the captain, No sir, I can’t do that.

Yes - at the end of my two-year tour. Isn’t it sick that this is what the campaign is about? This has nothing to do with what’s wrong with the country. Everybody in the country ought to understand that Republican dirty tricksters are worried to death about what I am. They’re trying to reshape my image for the American people. They’re trying to recast me into a new person that people will find unattractive. It’s not the Democrats, it’s the Republicans. I think the American people will see through it. Keep in mind, I’m not even a candidate yet. All of this stuff just strengthens my resolve to do it. I didn’t realize the system was this rotten. The thing that leaps out at you as a newcomer is that the process to select a president is totally irrelevant and disconnected from selecting a good person. It has everything to do with sound bites, whispers and innuendoes.

I was in Washington last week, talking to the newspaper editors. I’m walking out, the whole press corps surrounds me. If I had that tape, I could sell it to “Saturday Night Live,” and we could both retire. The one thing I know at this point, if I ever get stuck up there, I can’t stay inside the Beltway. It’s like living in a bubble. If you don’t see, feel and taste the real America, you could be up there and not know there’s a recession. I don’t mean that the president’s a villain. I’m just saying he has been put in the bubble. If Sam Walton hadn’t stood in the aisles of his stores talking to customers, he would never have built the empire he built. If you want to serve the people, you’ve got to listen to real people. If you stay inside the Beltway, the special interests become the real people.

This approach is far more damaging to our country than to me or my family. It’s a stupid system of selecting a candidate. The damage to individuals is insignificant compared to the damage to the country.

Everybody wants a position on everything from frogs to mosquitoes to the deficit. If I am a candidate, I’ll give you guys all that. But I’m not going to do it yet. I want to do it well. And if I’m not a candidate, I don’t have to do it.

Everything we need to do, we can do within the Constitution. I could just make one of these mindless statements that I’m against drugs, that we ought to declare war on drugs. Anybody who can get up in the mornings and dress themselves understands that if we get rid of this stuff, it won’t be pretty. Once you decide what needs to be done, you go to the American people. It’s up to you, folks.

The point is whether the American people want to talk about it or do it. All Washington does is talk about it. If you want to talk about it, I’m not your man. If you just want more show business, fine. I don’t want to waste my time. I don’t want to waste the country’s time.

If anybody will listen, I have said there is one priority that faces this country. That is to stop the decline in the job base. Because if we continue to lay off tens of thousands of people, we lose taxpayers and get welfare users. A welfare user gets more money from the government than a blue-collar worker pays in taxes every month. So it’s more than a double kill. We take in a trillion dollars a year. We spend a trillion four. We are spending a fourth of our GNP on government. So you try to eliminate fraud and waste. At the same time, you are going night and day to reindustrialize America. The way out of debt is the expanded job base. If you don’t have that, you can’t make this country work.

All my taxes have been paid. I have paid an unbelievable amount of taxes. I wish the country had more to show for the amount of money I’ve sent up there. I’ve had just one argument with the IRS in all the years. The law was hazy on one transaction. We had the choice of taking it to tax court or working it out. We worked it out.

Here is our government in action. When I was saying we shouldn’t be putting so many people at risk in the Middle East last year, suddenly the IRS shows up and says, “From this point forward, we will have a person who lives on your premises.” I said, Why.? They said I was a major taxpayer. I asked the guy, look, does Sam Walton have one? You go tell whoever told you to come down here that when all those other guys have one, I’ll be glad to. But don’t just single me out because I’m in disagreement with the president of the United States. I called the commissioner of the IRS and told him I’m happy to have an audit, but to think you’re going to frighten me with this? I pay my taxes. Just get out of here. They went away. The world I live in is amazing.

My parents are my heroes. All this stuff you see around here [family portraits] wasn’t put here for a campaign. It’s been here for years. Washington was a hero. Lincoln was a hero. Teddy Roosevelt. The people Norman Rockwell painted are my heroes. That’s my favorite [gesturing toward a Rockwell on the wall]. One generation, working and sacrificing for the next one. That’s what it’s all about. ..L1.- ..CN.-Who Are the Perot Supporters? Ross Perot gets more support from some groups than others ..CN.- 26% of men, 16% of women 27 of those making $50,000 or more 21% of those making $30,000 to $50,000 18% of those making $30,000 and under 29% of Independents 17% of Democrats 16% of Republicans 27% in the West and 21% in the Midwest, but only 18% in the East and 17% in the South

For the Newsweek Poll, the Gallup Organization interviewed 754 registered voters by telephone April 15-16. The margin of error is plus or minus 4 percentage points. Some “Don’t Know” and other responses not shown. The Newsweek Poll (C) 1992 by Newsweek, Inc.