JIM “PAPPY” MOORE: My Fight Against Iranian Terrorists
By Jim “Pappy” Moore
When I arrived at University of Texas Law School in August of 1974, I considered myself leaning liberal. However once I got into Law School, I realized I was not liberal. I was conservative. That was because in Austin and at University of Texas, the student body and the local politics was far, far Left. My views were very centrist.
I jumped into the fray immediately, and ran for a position on the UT Law School Student Board of Governors. There were 15 positions and 1500 students. I won a seat on that Board the fall of my first year. I then won a seat on that Board in my second year, and third year. On my third year, 1976-1977, I became the Chairman of the Law School’s Honor Council. It was charged with enforcing the School’s Honor Code which all students had to follow in their conduct.
I met a variety of young politicos at UT Law School. It was not long before I was approached by one of the three Legal Fraternities at the School – the one with Conservative politicos. Some were Republican. Some were Democrats. They liked my tenacity and my strong leanings toward fiscal responsibility on the Board of Governors. This gave me friends in both major parties.
One of my close associates was a classmate named Tim Furlong. He was an aide to United States Senator Lloyd Bentsen. Through him I met Senator Bentsen and got on board with him in 1976 for his run for the presidential nomination in the Democrat Party. When he fell away and Carter began to emerge as the favorite, I decided I could not back Carter. I did not consider him presidential timber.
One of the school’s Deans approached me about getting behind Gerald Ford, the Republican president who was going to be running against Carter. I liked Ford and what he had done in the wake of Nixon’s resignation, so I signed on with them. I met Vice President Nelson Rockefeller in Washington, D.C., and was fully on board for the Ford-Dole ticket fall of 1976 after Ford picked Dole as his running mate.
I had also become president of my Law Fraternity, and I had a part time job at the Texas Aeronautics Commission where I helped write the brief for our filing in the U.S. Supreme Court regarding the Southwest Airlines case. That’s what I was doing in Washington, DC when I might the Vice President quite by happenstance.
I was a very busy twenty-six year old third year law student.
Ford and Dole would go on to lose, but I was sought out by Republicans in the State Capitol. In fall of 1976, I got wind of the Iranian Students Association getting funds from the Student Government of the main campus. The top aide to the Texas Speaker of the House was a UT Law Grad who was a member of our Law Fraternity. We had politicians on both sides of the aisle. That top aide clued me in to the shenanigans of the Main Campus Student Government and we devised a plan to get the Regents to defund them to the tune of $200,000+.
My buddy set up meetings for me with three UT board members of note who were said to be approachable on an upcoming vote: Lady Bird Johnson. Former Governor Allan Shivers. And Attorney and former LBJ Ambassador to Australia Ed Clark. I met with each individually and face to face. I laid out the whole thing. They had no idea student money was going to the Iranian Student Association and that the ISA was a front from the Ayatollah Khomeni, who was the mad mullah behind the attacks on the Shah of Iran. Khomeni was living in France at the time, and his organization had infested U.S. universities much like HAMAS has done in the 2020s.
I made the pitch to each of three. We already had 3 of the remaining 6 Regents, so we knew we needed the 3 we targeted to vote DOWN the authorization which would have given Main Campus Student Government around $220,000 for the 1976-1977 school year. All three got onboard. The trio we had moved over on the vote asked me to appear publicly at the Board of Regents meeting and give my pitch. I did, and we won the vote 6-3. The Iranian Students Association and its liberal college student supporters were livid!
My actions would be vindicated three years later in 1979 when the Shah was deposed, the Mullahs took over, and the U.S. Embassy was stormed and hostages were taken. 52 of our people were held hostage for 444 days.
So yeah. I’m really, really happy the Mullahs have fallen in Iran. Way past time for that to happen.
Copyright 2026, Jim “Pappy” Moore. All rights reserved.