"Thomas Dooley was a doctor who organized medical aid clinics in Southeast Asia during the 1950s. His books introduced many Americans to the growing conflict in Southeast Asia, which would eventually result in the Vietnam War.
"Thomas A. Dooley III was born on January 17, 1927. His parents, Thomas A. Dooley Jr. and Agnes Wise Dooley, were members of a prominent Irish Catholic family in St. Louis. Dooley attended private schools in the city and graduated from St. Louis University High School in 1944.
"Dooley went to the University of Notre Dame for a short time before enlisting in the U.S. Navy. While in the military, Dooley served as a medical corpsman in naval hospitals in New York and California. He briefly returned to Notre Dame before being admitted to the St. Louis University School of Medicine in 1948. As a medical student, Dooley was inconsistent and often skipped class. He was forced to repeat his senior year.
"After finally graduating from medical school in 1953, Dooley was not allowed to begin a residency in St. Louis because his professors did not believe he was ready. He decided to reenlist in the navy. From 1954 to 1955 he participated in Operation Passage to Freedom, which assisted refugees evacuating from communist North Vietnam to South Vietnam. Dooley acted as a spokesman for the cause. His experiences in Vietnam led him to write a best-selling book, Deliver Us from Evil.
"Dooley’s anticommunist views quickly made him a popular figure not only in Catholic circles, but also in American society as a whole. His fame came at a time when many Americans were afraid communists would take over the government. Years after his death, it was revealed that Dooley was being used by the CIA for propaganda." ~ Historic Missourians