Ross Perot was not the first tycoon to think about running for president. Wendell Willkie, a New York utility executive who gained fame on a popular radio program, actually won the Republican nomination in 1940 before losing to Franklin D. Roosevelt. Perot ran twice on an independent ticket and, on his first try in 1992 against the incumbent George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, earned a little under 19% of the popular vote.

By any measure, it was a remarkable accomplishment. The experts remain undecided about whether Perot’s campaign cost Bush the White House, but his candidacy was the best performance by a third-party nominee since ex-President Theodore Roosevelt’s 27% in 1912.