Editing Ross Perot (section)

== Early life, education, and military career ==
Ross Perot was born in [[Texarkana, Texas]] in 1930, the son of Lula May ([[Maiden and married names|née]] Ray) and Gabriel Ross Perot,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.wargs.com/political/perot.html |title=The Ancestors of Ross Perot |publisher=Wargs.com |access-date=June 13, 2010}}</ref> a [[commodity broker]] specializing in cotton contracts.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> He had an older brother, Gabriel Perot Jr., who died as a toddler.<ref name="Hall">{{Cite news |last=Hall |first=Cheryl |date=July 9, 2019 |title=Ross Perot, self-made billionaire, patriot and philanthropist, dies at 89 |url=https://www.dallasnews.com/business/business/2019/07/09/ross-perot-self-made-billionaire-patriot-philanthropist-dies-89 |access-date=July 9, 2019 |work=[[The Dallas Morning News]]}}</ref> His patrilineal line traces back to a [[French Canadian|French-Canadian]] immigrant to the [[Louisiana (New France)|colony of Louisiana]] in the 1740s.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |page=8 |first=Gerald |last=Posner |title=Citizen Perot |publisher=Random House |location=New York City |year=1996}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |first=Danny |last=Reagan |url=http://web.reporternews.com/dannyreagan/perot.html |title=The Perot/Bordelon Branches |access-date=February 18, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090718221004/http://web.reporternews.com/dannyreagan/perot.html |archive-date=July 18, 2009}}</ref>

Perot attended a local private school, Patty Hill, before graduating from [[Texas High School]] in Texarkana in 1947.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.newsweek.com/deep-heart-texarkana-199530|title=Deep In The Heart Of Texarkana|date=June 28, 1992|website=Newsweek|language=en|access-date=August 20, 2019}}</ref><ref name="TISD">{{Cite web |url=http://www.txkisd.net/headlines/2009-2010/9%2016%2009%20Texarkana%20Independent%20School%20District%20Names%20H%20%20Ross%20Perot%20as%202009%20Distinguished%20Alumni.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221010/http://www.txkisd.net/headlines/2009-2010/9%2016%2009%20Texarkana%20Independent%20School%20District%20Names%20H%20%20Ross%20Perot%20as%202009%20Distinguished%20Alumni.pdf |archive-date=October 10, 2022 |url-status=live |publisher=Texarkana Independent School District |title=Texarkana Independent School District Names H. Ross Perot as 2009 Distinguished Alumni |date=September 17, 2009 |access-date=October 6, 2012}}</ref> His first job, at eight years old, was helping to distribute the ''[[Texarkana Gazette]]'' as a paperboy.<ref name="Hall" /> He joined the [[Boy Scouts of America]] and made [[Eagle Scout (Boy Scouts of America)|Eagle Scout]] in 1942, after 13 months in the program, and was a recipient of the [[Distinguished Eagle Scout Award]].<ref name="honor">{{Cite book |last=Townley |first=Alvin |url=http://www.thomasdunnebooks.com/TD_TitleDetail.aspx?ISBN=0312366531 |title=Legacy of Honor: The Values and Influence of America's Eagle Scouts |date=December 26, 2006 |publisher=St. Martin's Press |isbn=978-0-312-36653-7 |location=New York |pages=89–100, 108, 187, 194, 249, 260, 265 |access-date=December 29, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061219180428/http://www.thomasdunnebooks.com/TD_TitleDetail.aspx?ISBN=0312366531 |archive-date=December 19, 2006 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="honor2">{{Cite web |last=Ray |first=Mark |year=2007 |title=What It Means to Be an Eagle Scout |url=http://www.scoutingmagazine.org/issues/0701/a-what.html |access-date=January 5, 2007 |work=Scouting Magazine |publisher=Boy Scouts of America}}</ref> One of Perot's childhood friends was [[Hayes McClerkin]], who later became the [[Speaker (politics)#States|Speaker]] of the [[Arkansas House of Representatives]] and a prominent lawyer in [[Texarkana, Arkansas]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-06-10-mn-173-story.html|title=Perot as Hometown Hero: Just Don't Get in His Way|work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=June 26, 2010 |first=Tom |last=Furlong |date=June 10, 1992}}</ref>

From 1947 to 1949, he attended [[Texarkana Junior College]], then entered the [[United States Naval Academy]] in 1949 and helped establish its [[Honor Concept|honor system]].<ref name="honor" /><ref name="junior">{{Cite web|agency=Associated Press|title=Ross Perot Gives $1 Million to Texarkana College|url=http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2012/mar/23/ross-perot-gives-1-million-million-texarkana-colle/|access-date=April 7, 2012|work=Arkansas Democrat-Gazette|date=March 23, 2012}}</ref> Perot claimed his appointment notice to the academy—sent by telegram—was sent by [[W. Lee O'Daniel|W. Lee "Pappy" O'Daniel]], Texas's 34th governor and former senator.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Martin |first=Marie Murray |url= http://www.texarkanagazette.com/news/2012/03/25/native-son-355425.php |work=Texarkana Gazette |title= Native Son: TC benefactor Ross Perot reflects on growing up in Texarkana |date= March 25, 2012 |access-date=March 25, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130609112812/http://www.texarkanagazette.com/news/2012/03/25/native-son-355425.php |archive-date= June 9, 2013 }}</ref> Perot served as a junior officer on a destroyer, and later, an aircraft carrier from 1953 to 1957.<ref name="Jackson">{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jul/09/ross-perot-obituary|newspaper=The Guardian|date=July 9, 2019|title=Ross Perot obituary |last=Jackson|first=Harold|access-date=July 10, 2019}}</ref>  Perot, who had only ever owned one pair of shoes at a time, was shocked to find that he was issued multiple pairs of shoes in the navy, which he would later point to as "possibly my first example of government waste".<ref name="Hall" /> Perot then went to the Naval Reserve, which he left on June 30, 1961, with the rank of [[Lieutenant (navy)|lieutenant]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Henry Ross Perot|url=http://veterantributes.org/TributeDetail.php?recordID=103|website=veterantributes.org|access-date=February 8, 2021}}</ref> His father died when Perot was 25 years old.<ref name="Hall" />

In 1956, Perot married Margot Birmingham, whom he met on a blind date as a midshipman docked in [[Baltimore]].<ref name=Jackson/><ref name="Hall"/>