Charlie A. Dooley is an American

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

. A

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (Cyprus) (DCY) **Democratic Part ...

, he served as the County Executive of

St. Louis County, Missouri St. Louis County is located in eastern Missouri. It is bounded by the City of St. Louis and the Mississippi River to the east, the Missouri River to the north, and the Meramec River to the south. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1, ...

until January 1, 2015. Dooley was the first

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

to hold this position.

Early life and career

Dooley grew up in St. Louis, attending the St. Louis Public Schools and graduated from Wellston School District. He served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

during the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

and was honorably discharged in 1968. After his military service, Dooley went to work for

McDonnell Douglas McDonnell Douglas Corporation was a major American Aerospace manufacturer, aerospace manufacturing corporation and defense contractor, formed by the merger of McDonnell Aircraft and the Douglas Aircraft Company in 1967. Between then and its own ...

(now

Boeing The Boeing Company, or simply Boeing (), is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product support s ...

) and retired after 30 years of service in 1999.

Political career

Dooley's political career began with part-time positions in the village of Northwoods, where he and his family reside. Dooley was elected as an

Alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law with similar officials existing in the Netherlands (wethouder) and Belgium (schepen). The term may be titular, denotin ...

in Northwoods in 1978, and in 1983 he was elected

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

. He served as mayor until he was elected to the St. Louis County Council in 1994. He was the first African-American elected to the council, and was re-elected in 1998 and 2002. In 2000, Dooley was an unsuccessful candidate for election to

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

. He lost the Democratic

primary Primary or primaries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Primary (band), from Australia * Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea * Primary Music, Israeli record label Work ...

Lacy Clay William Lacy Clay Jr. (born July 27, 1956) is an American politician who served as the U.S. representative from from 2001 to 2021. His congressional career ended after he lost in a Democratic primary to Cori Bush in 2020, after successfully ...

in a race to succeed Clay's father,

Bill Clay William Lacy "Bill" Clay Sr. (born April 30, 1931) is an American politician from Missouri who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from Missouri's 1st congressional district representing portions of St. Louis for 3 ...

. In 2003, Dooley was appointed County Executive, following the death of County Executive Buzz Westfall. In November 2004, a

special election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...

was held to fill the remainder of Westfall's term. Dooley won the election defeating the Republican nominee, former County Executive Gene McNary. In 2006, Dooley was reelected to a full term as County Executive, defeating the Republican nominee, Joe Passanise, by gaining 67% of the vote. In a difficult mid-term election season for Democrats, Dooley was elected to serve a second full term as County Executive in 2010, defeating the Republican nominee, Bill Corrigan, 51.1% to 46.7%, with the

Libertarian Libertarianism (from ; or from ) is a political philosophy that holds freedom, personal sovereignty, and liberty as primary values. Many libertarians believe that the concept of freedom is in accord with the Non-Aggression Principle, according ...

candidate receiving 2.2% of the vote. On August 5, 2014, Dooley lost his bid to be the Democratic Party candidate in the County Executive election to primary challenger

Steve Stenger Steven Stenger is an American former lawyer, attorney and former Democratic Party (United States), Democratic politician. He served as List of county executives of St. Louis County, Missouri, County Executive of St. Louis County, Missouri from J ...

References

External links

Dooley's biography at St. Louis County's website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dooley, Charlie Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Politicians from St. Louis United States Army soldiers Missouri Democrats African-American mayors in Missouri 20th-century mayors of places in Missouri African-American people in Missouri politics County executives of St. Louis County, Missouri 21st-century African-American politicians