Who is Vivek Ramaswamy?

tonight we are officially kicking off our series who is which gives viewers a chance to hear from hopefuls as we sit down with them one on one tonight we talk to entrepreneur returned politician Vivek ramaswamy who believes he has the right prescription for what ails this country we're standing by to talk with the candidate about some of the most pressing issues on the campaign Trail but first our conversation with him at his home in Ohio where we get a sense of the person behind the politician in our series who is a special initially brought To Us by ABC News Legends Peter Jennings and Charlie Gibson were you conscious as a child and as a young man that you came from a life of privilege so did you think yourself Barack what kind of hubris is this being president I said be a man yeah they said be a man they said we're not accepting girls you're a Mormon kid no drinking no smoking growing up as a child what did you think you wanted to be in just a few words who is Vivek ramaswamy I'm a first generation American I've lived the full Arc of the American dream and I am an entrepreneur who believes in building things to solve problems in the world an entrepreneur who's now trying his hand at politics already making a name for himself on the big stain the climate change agenda we should not create holidays with a cultural gondorf Department white supremacists to exist somewhere in America I've just never met him never met one in my life right maybe I'll need a uh maybe I'll meet a unicorn sooner and maybe those exist too I think it's fair to say that you've become a controversial political figure and I was reading that you'd said that you'd taken some personal losses family members friends what I hope are short-term losses okay yeah I think that that's accurate but now that it is my job to express myself without fear as a citizen as hopefully the next leader of this country speaking the truth and sharing my beliefs without sugar coating them for anybody my parents came to this country 40 years ago with no money your parents were immigrants from India dad and engineer Mama geriatric psychiatrist what was that upbringing like it was I mean it was the best upbringing I could have possibly had two parents in the house intensive focus on education in some ways that's predictable it's why my dad came to this country was to pursue a better education than he was able to get in India and my mom came to this country to finish her residency and become a doctor here growing up we did go through our times of hardship I did not grow up in money my dad when he was actually working at the GE plant in Evendale Ohio that was exactly when Jack Welch was implementing large-scale layoffs across the company you say that you became a conservative in the sixth grade and you say that you blame your dad and Jack Welch in the former senior year during that time of of General Electric you blame them for you becoming a conservative house so well I think my definition of being a conservative my crude definition was this idea that hardship is not a choice hardship is something that happens to you but victimhood is a choice and that hardship is not the same thing as victimhood so Jack Welch through many chains down the GE corporate hierarchy dealt hardship to my family and to my dad but my dad's Choice was not to be victimized by it not just to complain and give up it was to work hard get ahead through his own dedication maybe even be strengthened by that hardship well he says education was always his parents priority he also excelled outside the classroom the vague sang Opera as a child and in high school he was a nationally ranked tennis player in addition to tennis you're also I don't know if we could call you a concert pianist but that'd be interesting the valedictorian at his high school tonight let that Journey begin the vague went on to Harvard majoring in biology before also attending Yale law school where he met the love of his life meeting a poorva she was already the person she is today who pushes me to be the best version of myself at 29 he founded his first come [Applause] noon in order to ring the bell on the New York Stock Exchange his goal was for it to help pharmaceutical companies develop drugs for diseases like Alzheimer's a disease he first encountered as a child I had a front row seat for better or worse to see it not just my grandmother's sister and other family members but even my mother who treated these patients on the front line that was her career it became an important part of our upbringing too to be able to play the piano in those nursing homes he has come company quickly skyrocketed in value Landing this boy in the bubble on forbes's coveted 30 under 30 list obviously you'd banked on a medicine that you thought would work for Alzheimer's disease that didn't end up working and and I read an article that you you talked about from a year ago where you said that some of those wounds haven't been healed still is that ongoing is that something that kind of gnaws at you that you're thinking that you're not ready to to drop that ball yet yeah I mean look I felt like we were within Striking Distance of doing something for Humanity that literally would have been world changing would have changed the course of human flourishing in human history and like 99.7 percent of other drugs that have ever been tested for Alzheimer's disease the one that I developed wasn't one of mine that succeeded either and for me in some ways experientially that was probably something that helped Build Me Up that helped build the company up and so it's hard to regret something that contributes to what got you to where you are today if you were to become the president you would be the first president in America's history who practices Hinduism what role does faith play in your life Faith plays an important role in my life I I believe in God I believe that God put each of us here for a reason I think that that's something that's not unique to the Hindu tradition far from it I think it's actually deeply embedded in the judeo-christian tradition and founding of this country as well but I derive my freedom from my knowledge that it's not being done by me I think it is being done through me through us we're God's instruments I'm curious what the road not taken is for you not something that you should have done but something you could have done it's a good question I really am a passionate tennis player I'm a tennis fanatic if the path was open to me to have pursued that career especially because it's only going to be for so long you can come back to doing all these other things later I would have done it but I I was good but my native Talent was never going to be at a level that would have allowed me to be the best in the world at it your greatest strength firmness of my convictions biggest weakness firmness of my convictions it's often the same yes exactly hi everyone George Stephanopoulos here thanks for checking out the ABC News YouTube channel if you'd like to get more videos show highlights and watch live event coverage click on the right over here to subscribe to our Channel and don't forget to download the ABC News app for breaking news alerts thanks for watching

Channel: ABC News

Views: 187,984

Keywords: 2024, abc, abcnl, candidate, election, gop, news, p_cmsid=2494279, p_vid=news-103292371, politics, primary, ramaswamy, right, updates, vivek

Id: 6fe8jw4VUCc

Length: 7min 45sec (465 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 19 2023