Ross Perot Jr. stood ground for Air Force Memorial

09:01 AM CST on Sunday, February 10, 2008

Thanks to the tenacity of a Dallas native son, the awe-inspiring Air Force Memorial honoring America's fallen pilots was built in 2006 - 14 years after it was conceived.

Despite court fights, Ross Perot Jr. wouldn't back down on his vision of the Air Force Memorial in Washington, D.C.

The memorial, just outside Washington, D.C., comprises three stainless steel spires soaring 270 feet high to represent the contrails of Air Force Thunderbirds as they disperse in a "bomb burst" formation.

It's easily identifiable from the air - as an Air Force tribute should be - and overlooks the Pentagon, Arlington National Cemetery and the Potomac River.

This is the story of its long, arduous birthing and an interesting lesson in leadership.

Ross Perot Jr. had an unusual upbringing as the son of a Dallas billionaire, entrepreneur and former presidential candidate. When he was a child, he watched Electronic Data Systems Corp. being hatched in his parents' living room.

Mr. Perot met astronauts and the father of the U.S. space program. He watched the launches of Apollo 11 and 12 from behind a fence at Cape Canaveral. Nelson Rockefeller came over for dinner.

Mr. Perot was in Israel during the Yom Kippur War in 1972. He flew with Gen. Ariel Sharon into an Israeli air force base hidden in the desert and sat in on a complete briefing on the war.

On the cusp of his father's courageous raid into Iran to save EDS employees who had been taken hostage, his father called to say what might have been goodbye: "If I don't come back, I want you to leave college and come back home to take care of the girls." Mr. Perot grew up amid extreme courage, patriotism and tenacity.

Tenacity makes its own reward.

In 1981, Mr. Perot piloted a Jet Ranger helicopter to the Arctic Circle and back. The following year, he became the first person to circumvent the globe in a helicopter, in 29 days and 3 hours. Today, that helicopter hovers at the Smithsonian.

From 1983 to 1985, Mr. Perot flew in the U.S. Air Force, and he joined the Air Force reserves for six more years.

In 1988, he founded Hillwood Development Corp., which would eventually develop Fort Worth's Alliance Airport and the 75-acre Victory Park development near downtown Dallas. He became chief executive of Perot Systems Corp. in 2000 and its board chairman in 2004.

Of all his accomplishments, Mr. Perot is proudest of the memorial, which he predicts will be his most enduring achievement.

For much of its 14-year gestation period, however, no one was certain that the memorial would get off the ground.

When the project began in 1992, Mr. Perot headed the site design committee, and he eventually became chairman of the entire project.

One of the most promising sites was a space on the Washington Mall next to the U.S. Marines' Iwo Jima monument. Mall spaces offer ready access to tourists, but they also come with red tape, height restrictions and other constraints.

Mr. Perot began interviewing designers. James Freed won, based in part on this simple but poignant remark: "My cab driver didn't know where the Navy Memorial is. If you pick me, everyone will know where the Air Force Memorial is."

But after the site and design were chosen, a Marines group called the Friends of Iwo Jima informed Mr. Perot's group that it didn't want the Air Force Memorial next to its monument. The additional traffic, the Marines said, would create havoc in the area and make it hard for people to get to the Iwo Jima monument.

The group filed a lawsuit to protect its monument from the Air Force Memorial. Mr. Perot selected - and paid for - a top litigator to defend his project.

The Marines lost, only to sue and lose a second time. The Marines then went to Capitol Hill twice to lobby for legislation to force the Air Force Memorial to move. Mr. Perot convinced Rep. Dick Armey, the former House majority leader from Dallas, to keep the Marines' bill stalled in committee.

Finally, the Marines changed tack, and Commandant Gen. James Jones asked for a compromise. Mr. Perot declined, explaining that his donors had spent millions of dollars and won.

Olive branch offered

Gen. Jones appealed to Mr. Perot's patriotism, saying it would be better for all the service branches if the site were moved. He asked: If a perfect alternative site were located and the Marines fully reimbursed the donors for all their expenses, would he consider moving?

Mr. Perot said no and told him, "General, there's one thing you can't reimburse us for - our time. We've spent six years fighting for this project. I'll only agree to look at another site if you agree to get legislation passed to exempt us from going through the whole stifling bureaucratic process again."

Finally, they had an agreement. The Air Force Memorial committee chose a site occupied by World War II Navy buildings. The Marines:

• Arranged for legislation exempting the memorial from the Capitol planning process, which cut red tape and permitted artistic freedom.
• Reimbursed the donors for their costs.
• Tore down the Navy buildings and secured the new site for the memorial.

Today the memorial - seven times higher than the original design - transforms the Washington skyline.

When asked about his leadership role, Mr. Perot says, "Only tension and conflict could produce this great result." Many business leaders shy away from conflict and, in so doing, fail to grasp valuable opportunities.

One could argue that it's easy for Mr. Perot, with all his advantages, to be tenacious and resolute.

But the counter argument is more compelling: With all his wealth, it would be easy for him to avoid challenge and struggle altogether. But that's not how he was brought up.

Pauline Graivier is president of Dallas-based Verbal Communications Inc. Rob Hoffman is a partner with Gardere Wynne Sewell LLP.