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Picking Up the Pieces

Bill Hayden, the California state director, asked all the state directors to fly down to Dallas the very day of Perot's announcement, although some didn't arrive until Saturday and a few did not make it.  Quite a bit of grandstanding took place at the weekend meeting, and everyone was at such an emotional pitch that little was accomplished.  Afterwards, a six-person steering committee, including Hayden and Orson Swindle, head of the Perot effort in Hawaii, met with Perot in his boardroom and discussed how to pick up the pieces (+).

The steering committee met again toward the end of the month, and women from Wisconsin, Missouri and New Jersey were added to make it more gender-balanced.  A few days later, a second big meeting in Dallas produced a consensus.  Perot committed to complete and release his platform and to provide financial and organizational support to the states.  United We Stand, America was born with a call "to organize, to educate, to participate in the political process, and to hold our public servants accountable."  Swindle became executive director of the new movement.

Some of the states had not finished their petition-gathering efforts, and this work continued with support from Dallas.[1]  Mid-August saw publication of Perot's book United We Stand: How We Can Take Back Our Country.  Some of the state petition committees/UWSAs began to start putting out newsletters again.  On September 18 Arizona became the last state to qualify Perot for the ballot when volunteers submitted well over the required number of signatures. 


Notes.
1. Adam Clymer.  "Perot Gave $12 Million to Aborted Campaign."  New York Times, August 25, 1992.  and Charles R. Babcock and Michael Isikoff.  "Perot Has Bankrolled Political Movement."  Washington Post, September 30, p. A1. 
Clymer reported that Perot spent a bit over $3 million in the second half of July.  Babcock and Isikoff reported that Perot spent $7 million from mid-July to the end of September.