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PAPER 1: THE DOOLEY MEMO
University of Notre Dame
Office of the President
Fr. John Jenkins
Dear students,
In light of recent (re)discoveries of Tom Dooley’s legacy in the Vietnam War, the university is considering modifications to his statue, or possible removal altogether. Amidst the controversy over the university’s Christopher Columbus paintings, it is clear that Dooley’s legacy is also in need of reappraisal. As a Catholic University we should be committed to seeking the truth about the Church’s history and its participation in momentous historic events like the Vietnam War. Funding has been made available to tell Dooley’s story in a new way. I am asking you: How should we tell it?
I would like a 5-page double-spaced memo to be submitted to the President’s Office by June 17, (7 pm) with a plan of action (email a word document to *************** Should the statue be removed? Should the statue remain as it is? Or should the University introduce additional materials (plaques, memorials, an exhibit etc.) to tell Dooley’s full story? Please propose a course of action and defend your choice with examples from the sources you have been reading in Professor Cajka’s class over the last month. Do not go beyond the sources that have been provided in class. Explain why you have chosen a particular course of action.
Whatever action you propose, a strong memo will provide sound explanations. We want the Dooley statue to convey our history as American Catholics honestly. Please provide footnotes for the sources you draw upon. If we are going to leave the statue as is, why should Dooley appear alongside children, for example? If we are going to remove it, can we justify erasing Dooley from history? Should the statue remain near the grotto? Is it enough to leave the letter he wrote to Hesburgh or should more analysis be provided? What additional material should appear alongside the statue and why? Tens of thousands of people look upon the statue of Tom Dooley each year. We need a creative solution.
I recently took the time out of my super busy schedule to sit down and read Deliver Us From Evil: Viet Nam’s Flight to Freedom. Dooley was the university’s most important graduate in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Any new display will use this as a critical source and deploy the book as a window onto Dooley’s legacy. How can we convey the issues of this primary source to the thousands of people who visit our campus each year and stop to pray at the grotto? The book itself seems to have several controversial aspects while also telling the story of an important humanitarian. I have also been looking over documents related to racism, anti-communism, ideology, and the refugee crisis.
The proposal will have to integrate a number of key themes: the Catholic imagination, Dooley’s biography, the role of Notre Dame in the world, humanitarianism, Anticommunism, and the type of graduates we as a University value. How can the legacy of Dooley be utilized to tell the story of the Catholic contribution to the Vietnam War? How do we get the statue, and any additional display, to address the tensions of Catholics becoming more American while simultaneously contributing to a foreign policy disaster?
There is also another angle to consider. I have recently been in conversation with the Notre Dame Gay and Lesbian Alumnae Association about their annual Tom Dooley Award. I am also seeking advice on how to think about Dooley’s sexual identity as well as the broader history of global Catholic sexual modernity. Any advice on how to integrate these aspects of Dooley’s life and Catholic culture will be much appreciated. How can the award feature in a new memorial? Should it?
A strong memo will consider concept of memory, story-telling, and offer appropriate descriptive analysis. Justify each choice you make about what should be added or removed to the Dooley display. No memo can hope to be comprehensive, so make sure to be selective in your treatment. The memo should have a strong thesis that connects to the evidence presented at the paragraph level. I do not need to remind you that the world is in the throes of several immigration crises at the moment. I am asking you to rethink the Dooley statue at a moment in world history when we are called as Catholics and Notre Dame graduates to contribute to the common good.
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