further descriptions of atrocities he said were committed by communist soldiers. In the latter book, he voiced strong political opinions about the Laotian crisis of 1960, defending the right-wing coup led by "one of his closest friends," Phoumi Nosavan. He also wrote that the rigging of elections "cut through the red tape and kibbosh you get involved with in Asia," asserting that "Democracy, as championed in the US, does not translate well into Lao...Not yet." While Dooley was providing medical care to Lao refugees, he also collected intelligence for the CIA, tracking civilian movements, and he provided cover for United States Special Forces medics who posed as civilian doctors. Dennis Shephard, a physician who worked with him, claimed that he would round up as many of his former patients as he could whenever potential sponsors came to tour the Vientiane clinic, giving the impression that he had a full and active clinic. Shephard remembered local CIA officers coming by often to find out if Dooley had picked up anything about the movement of Chinese troops, as well as to ensure that the weapons he had brought up with his medical supplies were well-hidden and secure. Shephard helped him establish a clinic at Vang Vieng; His obituary records that he was a guest when he was featured on This Is Your Life and that he traveled with him "from village to village, where they treated illness and injuries, and taught Laotians about sanitation and medication." Televised cancer surgery, death, and Peace Corps In 1959, Dooley returned to the United States for cancer treatment. He agreed to Fred W. Friendly's request that his melanoma surgery be the subject of a CBS News documentary. On April 21, 1960, Biography of a Cancer was broadcast; it was hosted by Howard K. Smith, and included the surgery and an interview with him. In response to Smith's suggestion that his attitude toward his cancer was "blithe", he replied: "I'm scared to death of this thing becoming maudlin; I'm scared to death of somebody saying 'a clutching, agonizing sort of a thing'...I don't want anyone to get sloppy over this; I don't like anything that says 'a dying doctor's anguish bit'; that's stupid." He proceeded to say that he agreed to the televising of his surgery to help reduce American ignorance and fear of cancer, and so that he could promote Medico. After the surgery was performed,