he described it candidly and revealed that his prognosis was bad; he died less than a year later. According to James Fisher's comprehensive biography, Dooley remained a devout Catholic until his death. At his funeral, U.S. Sen. Stuart Symington described him as "One of those rare Americans who is truly a citizen of the world." After his death, John F. Kennedy cited his example when he launched the Peace Corps. He was also awarded a Congressional Gold Medal after his death. He was buried in Calvary Cemetery in St. Louis. Importance and legacy A 1959 Gallup Poll named Dooley the 7th most admired man in the world according to the American public. But thereafter, his legacy became intertwined with the political controversy surrounding the Vietnam War. As a result, writers continue to struggle with the doctor's record of philanthropy and the later American war in Southeast Asia. During the height of the Vietnam War, when attention began to be given to the propaganda aspect of Dooley's work, one journalist charged that he was responsible "for helping to create 'a climate of public misunderstanding that made the war in Vietnam possible.'" More than a decade later, after examining more than 500 unclassified CIA documents, another writer argued that although he did provide the CIA with some information, he never initiated contact with them, he took no money, his motivation was patriotism, and he hoped this would afford him "more freedom to do his work and a little less harassment." Despite Dooley's problematic descriptions of Southeast Asia, Prince Souphan of Laos said that he was "known to his grateful Lao admirers as 'Thanh Mo America' (Dr. America)". He himself was frequently critical of United States actions in the region. He observed: "We are hated in most of the Orient. ... They think freedom means freedom of the capitalist to exploit the Oriental people. No Americans have ever gotten down to their level." At the same time, he opposed concrete reforms to foreign aid in Laos when Congress proposed them, defending the "first-class administrators" at the US embassy. He also rejected all compromises with communists, even when the Laotian public supported them, going so far as calling the popular neutralist leader Kong Le "an idiot." MEDICO depended primarily upon volunteers and private donations; by 1960 over 2000 physicians had applied to serve as volunteers, and new teams for medical assistance were established in