Citizen Perot [antikvár]

Preface This book has changed in scope since I first proposed it to Random House in late 1994. I had envisioned a brief biography of Ross Perot as part of a detailed study of his 1992 presidential campaign and a discussion of third-party politics. After speaking to some of Perot's friends and associates, I changed my direction. Perot's 1992 campaign did not, as 1 had expected, provide a blueprint for future independent races. Rather, the character of Perot's run for the White House was invariably tied to his personality. Understanding him became the focus. 1 did not, at first, call Perot, or try to interview him, although he was aware of my project. My hope was that 1 could finish most of my research prior to seeing him. However, before 1 was ready to ask for an interview, he called in August 1995, upset over some questions I had raised with his son-in-law Clay Mulford. He had become uncomfortable because he reaHzed I was now writing about his life. Although dozens of journalists had done so before and an unauthorized biography was published in 1990, this was different, and Perot knew it. Not only had I spoken to some of his closest confidants, but 1 had conducted hundreds of interviews independent of him and reviewed thousands of pages of documents about his life. And he had no control over the content of the book. After several contentious telephone conversations, he accepted the new direction I had taken. 1 made it clear to him that the book was centered more on the public aspects of his life than the per-