Charlie A. Dooley is an American

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

. 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 (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

, he served as the

County Executive A county executive, county manager or county mayor is the head of the executive branch of government in a United States county. The executive may be an elected or an appointed position. When elected, the executive typically functions either as a ...

St. Louis County, Missouri St. Louis County is located in the eastern-central portion of 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. At the 2020 census, th ...

until January 1, 2015. Dooley was the first

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

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 land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

during the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

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

McDonnell Douglas McDonnell Douglas was a major American 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 merger with Boeing in 1997, it produ ...

(now

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

) 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 Jurisdiction, jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council membe ...

in Northwoods in 1978, and in 1983 he was elected

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a 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 responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

. 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 a ...

. 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 Works * ...

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 def ...

in a race to succeed Clay's father,

Bill Clay William Lacy Clay Sr (born April 30, 1931) is an American politician from Missouri. As Congressman from Missouri's first district, he represented portions of St. Louis in the U.S. House of Representatives for 32 years. Early life and family ...

. In 2003, Dooley was appointed County Executive, following the death of County Executive

Buzz Westfall George "Buzz" Westfall (March 19, 1944 – October 27, 2003) was an American lawyer and politician. He served in the elected offices of Prosecuting Attorney (1978–1990) and County Executive (1991–2003) of St. Louis County, Misso ...

. In November 2004, a

special election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-larges ...

was held to fill the remainder of Westfall's term. Dooley won the election defeating the

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

nominee, former County Executive

Gene McNary Gene McNary (born September 14, 1935) is an American politician. He has served as the Commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, Executive Director of the Missouri Gaming Commission, and County Executive of St. Louis County. H ...

. 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 William M. "Bill" Corrigan Jr., is an American politician and lawyer. He served as one of the youngest presidents of the Missouri State Bar Association and he won the 2010 Republican primary election for county executive of St. Louis County, Mi ...

, 51.1% to 46.7%, with the

Libertarian Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's e ...

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.

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 Mayors of places in Missouri African-American mayors in Missouri African-American people in Missouri politics County executives of St. Louis County, Missouri 21st-century African-American people