Charles Dean

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Charlie Dean

Charles "Charlie" Dean was the brother of Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean, Democracy for America Chairman Jim Dean and political activist Bill Dean. In 1974, Charlie, who had been traveling through southeast Asia at the time, was captured and killed by Pathet Lao guerrillas. His death and the subsequent repatriation of his remains to the United States have been the subject of speculation and controversy.

Charlie attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he served as president of the student body. In 1972, he went on to work for Democrat George S. McGovern's 1972 presidential campaign. In 1974, he traveled to Laos to visit a friend who worked for USAID. Together with an Australian friend named Neal Sharman, Charlie stayed in a bungalow on the Mekong River, planning to meet up with another friend who was serving in the Peace Corps in Nepal. Charlie’s parents have speculated that he was in fact working for the CIA, although Howard Dean has stated that he does not think this to be the case.

In early September, 1974, Charlie and Neal had decided to take a raft down the Mekong River to Thailand. They were stopped at a checkpoint near a small village called Pak Him Boun, just two miles southeast of the capital of Laos, Vientiane, by Pathet Lao communist guerillas who imprisoned the two, apparently because they were carrying cameras. The U.S. Government learned of the capture, and Charlie was classified as a POW-MIA despite the fact that he was a civilian. Charlie and Neal were executed by the Pathet Lao on or about December 14, 1974.

In 2000, through accounts given by people who had seen the two young men killed, the site where Charlie and Neal were believed to have been buried was located. On November 11, 2003. Howard Dean confirmed that a joint U.S.-Laotian task force had likely discovered the remains of his younger brother, and DNA analysis subsequently confirmed that the remains were Charles Dean’s.

In December, 2003, Charles Dean’s remains were buried with full military honors. This caused some controversy, as Charlie was a civilian, and Howard Dean was criticized for publicly referring to his deceased brother as a POW-MIA.

Charlie's death has been widely reported by Howard Dean as having had an enormous influence on his life; such that he wore his brother's belt every day of his presidential campaign.