The Perotniverse @Perotniverse

June 26, 1994: Over 26k attend a memorial rally for the late Pres. Perot in Dallas. There, President Stockdale reveals plans for the Perot Presidential Library at UT-Dallas, and Ross Perot Jr. invigorates the crowd by announcing his own Reform Party run for Governor of Texas.

5/11/94: Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole (R-KS) is confirmed & sworn in as the 45th Vice President. Dole, himself considered a GOP frontrunner for the Presidency in ‘96, first appeared outwardly reluctant to step into the role before being persuaded by Pres. Stockdale to accept.

April 19, 1994: Former President Richard Nixon dies, aged 81, of complications from a major stroke suffered the day before. Per his will, the state funeral for Nixon—the first former President to die in over 20 years—will be held in Yorba Linda, CA.

March 23, 1994: Luis Donaldo Colosio Murrieta, the dominant PRI party’s candidate for President of Mexico in 1994, narrowly avoids assassination in Tijuana. 14 others are hurt & perp Mario Aburto Martínez is beaten brutally by a mob of supporters after missing from close range.

February 25, 1994: After a brief firefight, fed. agents apprehend Ramzi Yousef & 8 co-conspirators, hours before a scheduled terror attack. Having amassed >3 tons of H₂-enhanced urea nitrate, declassified intel shows the group’s plan to destroy 5 NYC bridges & 1 other landmark.

January 25, 1994: In his State of the Union address, Perot broadly glosses over economic turmoil, while outwardly threatening Major League Baseball w/ a full review or even suspension of the League’s antitrust exemption—should a lockout occur.

December 16, 1993: Pres. Perot, who won the ‘92 race as an Independent, launches the Reform Party of America—chaired by former COGov Dick Lamm. While the new party will not qualify for matching funds in ‘96, the announcement is successful in halting Perot’s drop in approval.

November 8, 1993: George W. Bush, baseball executive and oldest son of former President George H. Bush, launches his campaign for Governor of Texas in 1994. He hopes to unseat popular Democratic incumbent Ann Richards.

October 6, 1993: Already growing more slowly than hoped, the Dow drops 16% on “Black Wednesday” as Perot pledges to ramp up gov’t spending cuts. This comes as his 1st budget package, which sliced foreign aid & tech research—and only passed narrowly—has recently come under fire.

August 12, 1993: Treasury Sec. Lloyd Bentsen abruptly resigns. Though he was confirmed easily and remained widely popular, his relationship with fellow Texan Pres. Perot had reportedly grown icy in recent months. Bentsen, the 1988 Dem. VP nominee, will never return to politics.

February 3rd, 1992: The relationship between President Perot and the traveling press corps gets off to a rocky start when his less than kind off-the-cuff remarks about subjects ranging from Gerald Ford & Italy to Dallas Cowboys head coach Jimmy Johnson are relayed to the public.

January 20th, 1993: Ross Perot is sworn in as 42nd President of the United States of America. His first official act is to issue an Executive Order enforcing a moratorium on any & all tax incentives for corporations that internationally outsource >1.5% of their workforce.

January 6, 1993: Without incident, outgoing Vice President Dan Quayle presides over certification of the election results during a joint session of Congress.

December 15, 1992: The presidential electors meet to cast their votes in all 50 state capitals and D.C., confirming the astonishing election results. Ross Perot has now officially become the first non ‘major-party’ candidate to win a U.S. presidential election since 1860.