Good afternoon. The volunteers in all 50 states have asked me to run as a candidate for president of the united states. Jim stockdale, my Vice President ial candidate and i are honored to accept their request. Few people in this country have been able to live the American Dream to the extent that i have. No person ever had a finer father, mother, or sister than i. No man has ever been blessed with a better wife, marg ott. Our five outstanding children plus six grandchildren, too good to be true. Ive been extremely fortunate during my business career. So i have lived the American Dream. And certainly if anyone in this country should be obligated serve our country and its people, i should be. The volunteers know that this is a critical time in our nations history. Neither Political Party has effectively addressed the issues that concern the American People. Theyve asked me to run this campaign on the issues and to assure that the problems that the American People are concerned with will be dealt with after this election is over. I know i hurt many of the volunteers who worked so hard through the spring and summer when i stepped aside in july. I thought it was the right thing to do. I thought that both Political Parties would address the problems that faced the nation. We gave them a chance. They didnt do it. But the volunteers on their own forged ahead and put me on the ballot in the final 26 states after july 16th. The day we were on the ballot in all 50 states, the volunteers requested that i come back in because the Political Parties have not responded to their concerns. My decision in july hurt you, i apologize. I thought i was doing the right thing. I made a mistake, i take full responsibility for it. There is only one issue now, starting today. And that is what is good for our country. Looking back wouldnt solve any of our problems and looking forward and working together, we can fix anything. The American People are concerned about a government in gridlock. Our people are good. The American People are good. But they have a government that is a mess. The American People are concerned about this government they pay for that doesnt produce results. Everybody in washington makes excuses, nobody takes responsibility, even when they have direct responsibility. The American People have figured that out. They want that changed. The American People are really concerned with a government that go to washington to cash in and not to serve. They want a government change so that people go as servants of the people back home and do not use Government Service as a steppingstone to financial success. The people know that it is wrong to spend our childrens money. Nothing could be more wrong. We know that we cannot con schennablely pass on a 4 trillion debt to our children. The people want this problem scarily dealt with. They want our financial house put back in order. The people are concerned that our government is still organized to fight the cold war. They want to reorganize to rebuild america as the highest priority. In order to do that, the highest priority is to rebuild the job base and the Industrial Base. We have to put our people back to work. We have to stop the loss of entire industries that go to other countries. We must make the words made in the usa once again the standard words for excellence. Not only is government amess, politics is also amess. The way political campaigns are run is a mess. The people want a Political Climate where the system does not attract ego drivenpower hungry people. We will create an environment that attracts the best people in the country to come and to serve and to go back home and go to work. Together, we can solve these problems and make the political process responsible and relevant to selecting the best people in the country. These are the issues well talk about in the coming weeks. I will not spend one minute answering questions that are not directly relevant to the issues that concern the American People. And now to the American People, i dont belong to anybody but you. You, the people, own me. If you elect me, i go as your servant. I will work night and day to see that the priorities that you have established are accomplished. To the many young people, and it is a disproportionate number of people that have called me or written me or some have driven across country to dallas to visit with me at their own expense expressing concern of what kind of country they will live in as adults and wondering if they will have a job when you get out of school. This is unbelievable to think you wouldnt have a job in america. When i think about the sacrif e sacrifices and my patients and the generations before them made so we could live the American Dream, certainly we all dedicate ourselves to seeing that you, the young people in our country, will have the American Dream pa passed on to you. Even the very young ones write me. This little girl, beautiful little girl, adrian kogliano. Ill leave this picture for you. Here are a few excerpts. My name is adrian. Im 9 years old, almost ten. I wish you would really run for president and i wish i could vote. I think everyone should get to say how they would like to see things done. I just dont think a small group of people should decide all ever these things for a whole bunch of people. This is signed adrian, rural route 2, augusta, kansas. Now, when you are hot and your tired and youre worn out some day, take a look at this little girl and her sisters and youll say, whatever it takes, weve got to do it. We have to pass on the American Dream to them. To the retired people who made it through the depression and fought and won world war ii. How is that for a double hit. Go up in the depression and as a bonus get to fight and win world war ii. Work and sacrifice most of their lives. I know you share my commitment to make sure we pass the American Dream on to our children and grand children. One of my most poignant memories is the day Mort Meyerson became the president of electronic data systems. His 95yearold grandfather was there. His grandfather had had to flee russia many years ago because he happened to be a jew. He lived in an attic in brooklyn in 18 months working as a tailer as a young man so he could get together enough money to buy a train ticket to fort worth, texas. He reared a fine young son and he was there when mort became president and at the end of the meeting he came forward with tears in his eyes and hugged mort and said, son, through you, i have fulfilled all of the dreams i had as a young man when i came to america. That is what this is all about. Fair shared sacrifice will be necessary to solve these problems. Last time we all sacrificed together was in world war ii. Everybody participated in the sacrifice. We won. We can win again, if each one in this country will carry his part of the burden. To the huge number of people in the armed forces, the Largest Single Group of people that have written me and urged me to run are the military forces and people who are veterans. Youve written and youve called and volunteered your time urging me to run. I do this for you primarily, because you fought and won the hot wars and the 45year long cold war for us. And in many cases, nobody ever even said thank you. This is my tiny little way of saying thank you. Certainly you deserve a country for yourselves and your children that fulfills the ideals that you fought for on the battlefield. Some of you gave your lives, i do this for the widows and the children, many of you bear the permanent scars of the war, i do it for you. I received a purple heart through the mail yesterday and a letter. With short excerpts. Dear ross, i was awarded this purple heart for wounds received during a vietnam ambush in 1968. Over the years, its value to me as grown significantly and like my family, it is priceless. I would be honored if you would accept the loan of my purple heart to keep with you throughout the campaign. I believe that it can serve as a compelling reminder that the hard battle ahead can and must be won. Let it also remind you of the army of ordinary citizens that has mustered to your call and looks to you to stop the hemorrhaging of the american spirit, to unite once and for all our diverse citizenry on a single american banner and to restore honesty, integrity and responsibility to our government. Like you, i firmly believe if we stand united, wee will win. Good luck ross, dennis squirmin, delaware. Thank you. I will keep it with me during the campaign. I understand it is on loan. Ill get it back to you. Never forget to everybody listening today, i cant do this job without your continued support. One person is nothing in a task this large. If millions of you will come together, we can do anything. There is nothing we cant do. Its up to you, its up to all of us. I promise you, i will give it everything i have. But the final results are in your hands because you own this country and you are the voters. I look forward to presenting these issues day after day to the American People. I would like to thank the American People by choosing me as your candidate, you have given me the highest honor i could ever receive. And in closing, let me say this. I love this country. I love the American People. I love the principles on which this country was founded. And i dont like to see those principles violated and there are millions of folks out there just like me that are sick and tired of it. Im totally committed to serving you. God bless you all. Thank you for this honor. And now, i would like to introduce Jim Stockdale, our Vice President ial candidate and his wife sible. Jim stockdale is a heroes hero. He is a recipient of the medal of honor and a scholar, a retired admiral. He suffered as a prisoner of war in vietnam as few people have. He provided leadership that caused our government to award him the medal of honor. In order to receive it, his fellow prisoners had to recommend him for it. The ultimate compliment. He is a man of steel. He has been hammered on the forth of brutality. And was able to reach outside of himself to provide strength to others. I cant tell you how many p. O. W. Told me when they came home they would not be alive if it had not been for Jim Stockdale. He gave them the courage to continue to go forward and live. Now that is leadership, thats the kind of person that built our country. Were very fortunate to have a man of his quality to service. And let me tell you about sybil. Shes one of the great women in our country. When the brutality and neglect, sibbel and a handful of dedicated wives and mothers were out there trying to do something so their husbands to survive this war. And she finally broke through. She got our government to change the policies from not saying anything about it, to embarrassing north korea to more men would survive the ordeal. There are few women during the period of my life of 62 years who have shown more strength, more courage and more commitment and more dedication who have been more brutally tested than mrs. Stockdale. And as a combination, as two pieces of steel. It is my privilege to introduce Jim Stockdale and his great wife sybil. [ applause ] sibbel and i are in our 46th year of marriage and we have four sons and five grandchildren and another on the way. The love of my life. Saved my life once, if you ever read the book we wrote. Its my honor to be my old friend ross perots running mate in this great effort to give the American People an independent way to go. I have a personal reputation for being independent in outlook and manner so this role gives me added satisfaction. Ross perot, extraordinary man. A word used in a popular biographical article on ross by his recent director of communication jim squires, this is on the newsstands now a good man, a selfless man. These adjectives come from the heart. Sibbel has known him for 23plus years and ever since i got off the plane from hanoi in 1973. The toast of american modernage technology and entrepreneurship, a Public Education authority, on stanford campus yesterday i was stopped by the chairman of the Education Department and that department does not train teachers so much as they are into the theory of education and he said, youre having quite a life. Ive been there 12 years. I know faculty well. He said, you know, ive read the reports of mr. Perots work both in his preschool experience in 1968 and the work with the high schools later. And he said, he really has some original approaches. He said, its not a teacherbashing operation. He sat there for four months in those classrooms and asked questions and talked to the students and the teachers before he made any moves. Hes a benefactor of the poor. Perhaps in a in a story i heard from one of his close dallas friends, she said ross is the only man who would or could phone the Salvation Army headquarters in new york every january and ask the question, okay, how far short are you this year . And the guardian of the American Fighting man. He put our plight in hanoi on page one in the world. And today gulf war veterans thank him for the sponsorship of the private hospitalization and wounds too extensive for normal v. A. Care. So for me, this is a grand experience and a great opportunity. When ross phoned me last march to be his running mate, i was in the early stages of writing a book about my patron saint in prison, a First Century philosophy eftitus. He inspires tough people, like ross and i starting this campaign as underdogs. And i looked for the quote that would give me power in this clutch and i settled for this. A life not put to the test, is not worth living. And i thank providence for this life, with all its trials, and for this opportunity. When i wrote this article right here, sybil and i got on the plane in San Francisco this morning and when we got off it, the pilot somehow found out who we were. And he came to the door and he just stuck out his hand and he said i want to thank you he was the captain of the plane. A mane in his 40s, any way. I want to thank you for everything you did out there in hanoi. And suspect you flew over there. And he said no, the gulf war was my war. And before we got off he grabbed me and said tell ross, im going to vote for him. Theyre all over the country, folks. Thank you very much. [ applause ] and well turn the podium over to arsenal signal. Our national coordinator. Mr. Perot . Mr. Perot . I want to get my family safely out of here. I got that taken care of. Now just before everybody tarts yelling at once, i cant see you at all because it is so dark. But ill try. Tell us the kind of campaign youll run. Mr. Swindle there is a heavy emphasis on media and television. It is on the issues. Does this mean you will not be traveling around the country in will you just be on tv . Give us an idea. Assume you own a basketball team. Would expect to you ask me for my strategy but would you expect me to give you the strategy. We wont lay out the strategy for you. It is unconventional, ill tell you that. But i dont want to cut you off, but it doesnt make any sense for us to lay out our strategy. Will this be a strategy to highlight our issues or to win and if so how do you do that with just over a month to go in the election. We will win by highlighting our issues. Are you caming or just doing campaigning or just doing commercials. Now you are getting into our strategy. And i just feel it is not wise to tell you. I think just nobody would tell his opponents the strategy in any sort of confrontation and i dont think we should. [ overlapping speakers ] youre not going to tell us what your campaign plans are. Will you tell us when youre going to appear and when . We will not reveal our strategy. Well have it unfold day after day. Here is the one thing you can bet on, it is going to be serious and it is going to focus on the issues. And thats going to be but then exactly how we run a Serious Campaign focusing on the issues, that will unfold day after day. The plan, was it crafted by a former adviser to president carter whose stewardship of the economy was not widely praised . It. Now, if no one else will yell, try that again. Because i got part of it. Why should america put its trust in an economic plan crafted largely by a Carter Administration official . Number one, it was not crafted largely by that person. That person participated on the team, made an important contribution. That person is a very bright, wise, able person. I had absolute control over that plan. Was deeply involved in it myself and a very talented team made up of a number of people participated. But and so, again, your question is has a bad premise. And the gas tax, the increase tax and the Social Security benefits and this all revolved around the middle kplas and the rich dont participate as much as the middle class. You expect your opponents to distort and and i wouldnt digfy that answer with a comment. I know exactly who and where that comes from. He said it so many times i will at the proper time. But the point is, does everybody here mr. Perot, could you explain what interest it is in the average american to have his or her gasoline bill go up an average of 300 a year to solve the deficit when richer americans will not have to undergo that similar type of burden. Could you explain why it is in their interest. That is a simple question, sir. If you look at the cost of gasoline around the world, in italy it is up to 5 a gallon