Read a sample chapter from the book, Searching for Perot: My Journey to Discover Texas’ Top Family by Dave Lieber:

NOTE: Here’s a sample chapter from Dave Lieber’s new biography on Ross Perot and his family. Special thanks to author Ken Follett, whose book On Wings of Eagles is the most complete account of these dramatic events.

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Perhaps Senior developed the self-confidence that he could mold state leaders into following his ideas because a few years earlier he took on a much bigger opponent than the Texas educational establishment.

He battled Iran.

Two of his top EDS employees were taken hostage. EDS had a government contract to create a Social Security-type system for everyone in Iran — 37 million people, more than inhabited Texas. But the Iranian government stopped paying EDS. So EDS stopped doing the work.

Senior ordered most of his employees out of the country because everyone knew an overthrow of the shah was imminent. Ayatollah Khomeini was about to seize power.

The two EDS guys, Paul Chiapparone and Bill Gaylord, were jailed because of the EDS work stoppage.

Senior was on the ski slopes with his family when he heard the news. He drove through a snowstorm to the airport so he could get back to Dallas and organize a response.

First he tried diplomacy. He had no luck with the American Embassy in Tehran, whose attaches were involved in so many matters at once. Senior knew former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger well enough to get him on the phone.

“Dr. Kissinger, this is Ross Perot. I’m a businessman from Dallas, Texas, and ---”

“Hell, Ross, I know who you are.”

Senior outlined his dilemma.

“I’ll see what I can do,” Kissinger said.

In the end, no diplomat could perform magic here, not even the greatest diplomat of the day.

Senior couldn’t find anyone to help. His inner voice told him that if he wanted to free his boys, he would need to organize the breakout himself.

He hired a military legend to run his corporate commando team — retired Col. Arthur “Bull” Simons, who once led U.S. Army Special Forces.

Bull looked like Hollywood’s version of a general. Tough and respected, he specialized in raiding enemy prisons to rescue prisoners of war.

Perot picked eight of his men working at EDS who had military backgrounds but were older, now married with children.

In a secret meeting he invited the men to join the squad.

“I’m asking for volunteers for a project that might involve loss of life,” he told them. “At this stage, I can’t tell you what it’s about, although you can probably guess. I want you to take five or 10 minutes or more to think about it. Then come and talk to me one at a time.

“Think hard. If you choose for any reason not to get involved, you can just say no, and no one outside this room will ever know. If you decide to volunteer, I’ll tell you more. Now go away and think.”

Everyone signed on. Bull Simons met each and approved. And off they went to that cottage on Lake Grapevine, the one where Junior built the dock, to begin training. These corporate warriors turned commandos nicknamed themselves the Sunshine Boys.

When lawyer Tom Luce learned of Senior’s plans, he lost it.

“Ross, this is idiotic,” Luce began. “You’re going to destroy the company, and you’re going to destroy yourself.”

“Stop worrying,” Senior told his counselor. “Just concentrate on what you have to do.”

“I can only advise you on the legal situation,” continued Luce, who was just warming up.

“But I’m here to tell you that this rescue can cause worse problems than you’ve got now. I can’t make a list of all the laws you’re about to break. You’ll have a mercenary army, which is illegal here, in Iran and in every country they pass through. You could have 10 men in jail instead of two.

“But it’s worse than that. If they get captured in Iran, they’ll be shot. Instead of having two innocent employees in jail, you could have eight guilty employees dead. And if that happens, the families of the dead men may turn on you, understandably, because this whole thing will look stupid.

“The widows will have huge claims against EDS. They could bankrupt the company. Think of the thousands of people who’d be out of a job if that happens. Think of yourself, Ross. There might even be criminal charges against you that could put you in jail.”

“I’ve thought of all that,” Senior said.

“I’m not getting through to you, am I?” Luce said.

“Sure you are. But if you go through life worrying about all the bad things that can happen, you soon convince yourself that it’s best to do nothing at all.”

Senior couldn’t decide. He went to see his mother in the hospital, dying of cancer. He held her hand.

She told him, “You don’t have a choice, Ross. These are your men. You sent them over there. They did not do anything wrong. The government will not get them out. It is your responsibility to bring them home safely. You have to go.”

He took Junior aside and, without revealing too much, made him promise that if anything happened in an accident he would leave Vanderbilt University, come home and help raise his four younger sisters.

Junior didn’t ask many questions. “I saw the look in my father’s eyes, and I knew enough to just say,

‘Yes, sir.’ ”

Ross Perot reminded his son of what his own father always told him: “Buddies to the end.”

Senior was about to embark on the greatest risk of his life. He called it Operation HOTFOOT for Help

Our Two Friends Out of Tehran.

[Note: Special thanks to author Ken Follett, whose book On Wings of Eagles, is the most complete account of these dramatic events.]