Salesman Ross Perot left IBM in 1962 and built a software empire that financed a Presidential run that again made the city seem politically far-right. Despite evangelists who use its broadcast facilities, the city is more Sun Belt than Bible Belt. The city's open-mindedness, growth and cultural offerings has earned it the scorn of the rest of Texas, who perceive it to be smug and pretentious. The city's financial core was largely built by merchants, many of whom came from Europe to contribute a strong capitalist desire, immigrant determination and old-world culture. The Dallasite whose name became forever associated with the graphic 8mm movie of the assassination, Abraham Zapruder, was born in Czarist Russia, and choose Dallas to build up a successful clothing firm.
Tourism is a major industry for the state's most-visited area.
Taft was the first President to visit the fair, in 1909. Vice-President Nixon opened the 1959 State Fair and rode atop a convertible in the opening day parade through Dallas. In 1961, the movie State Fair starring Pat Boone, Ann Margaret and Bobby Darin filmed during the fair's run. Dallas secured the 1936 Texas Centennial Exhibition, a six-month exposition at the State Fair grounds that attracted ten million visitors, including President Franklin Roosevelt who attended on June 12, a week after it opened. The night before his visit to the Exposition, Roosevelt's train made a stop at Austin.