Moody was born in Richlands, Virginia, he graduated from Anglo American High School in Athens, Greece in 1953 and earned his Bachelor of Arts from Haverford College in 1957. After two years of financial work on Wall Street, he became the CARE representative in Yugoslavia. After two years in Yugoslavia, he was assigned by CARE to Iran to lead a special feeding program assisting hospitals and schools and direct periodic earthquake relief. During the early Peace Corps period he set up the agency's first programs in Pakistan and Bangladesh—the first two Peace Corps programs in Continental Asia. His responsibilities included negotiating the country-PC agreements and matching volunteers with their assignments. He returned to Washington, D.C. for the next year as Pak desk officer, then became the loan officer for the USAID capital development program for Southeast Asia. After two years at USAID he earned an MPA at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government. He then earned a Ph.D. in economics at the University of California, Berkeley, after which he was employed as an Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. He also taught occasional courses at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
Political career
Taking leave from university teaching, Moody was elected to the Wisconsin State Assembly in 1976, then was elected to the State Senate in 1978, where among his contributions were bills that deregulated monopoly truck hauling in the state and ended the commitment to build a major freeway through Milwaukee's lakefront park. He was also the floor leader in passing no-fault divorce legislation and decriminalization of homosexual activities. In 1982, he was elected to the US Congress to represent Wisconsin's 5th congressional district, serving five terms through 1992. In Congress he was elected by his peers to the HouseWays & Means Committee and there assigned to the International Trade and Health/Medicare subcommittees. Among his bills he sponsored or co-sponsored was legislation for single-payer universal health care. Also bills in wilderness preservation and pro-competition truck hauling. Also legislation to prevent federal start-up employment incentives to be used for strike breaking. While in Congress he co-founded the organization that became the National Security Archive Project which continues today as a major force for transparency in federal government actions, especially overseas. Also, based on his Bangladesh experienced, co-founded the Congressional support coalition for International Family Planning. His 1992 race for US Senate—based on the "up or out" mantra of the Peace Corps—did not bring victory.
