Bob Dole

Robert Joseph Dole
U.S. Senator, Kansas
In office January 1969–June 1996
Preceded by	Frank Carlson
Succeeded by	Sheila Frahm
Personal details
Nationality	american
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	(1) Phyllis Holden, divorced (2) Elizabeth H. Dole

Robert Joseph Dole (born July 22, 1923) is best known as a former Republican United States Senate Majority Leader and Senator from Kansas from 1969-1996. He was also the Republican nominee for President in the 1996 election, but was defeated by the then-incumbent President Bill Clinton.

Early Years

Dole was born in, and would spend his entire childhood in Russell, Kansas. During the Great Depression, which hit all of Kansas very hard, the Doles moved into the basement of their home, and rented out the rest of their house. Dole took many odd-jobs around Russell as a boy, and would later work as a soda jerk in the local drug store.

Dole graduated from High School in the spring of 1941, and enrolled at the University of Kansas the following Autumn. Dole, who was a star High School athlete in his native Russell, earned a coveted spot on the KU Jayhawks basketball team under the legendary coach Phog Allen. While in college he joined the Kappa Sigma fraternity. Dole studied Law at KU, but his studies were interrupted by the start of World War II. After the war, Dole continued to study law, and eventually earned his Law Degree from Washburn University in 1952.

World War II and Recovery

In 1942, Dole joined the Army's Enlisted Reserve Corps to fight in World War II. He became a second lieutenant in the Army's 10th Mountain Division.

In April of 1945, while Dole was fighting the German Wehrmacht in the hills of Northern Italy, he was hit by Nazi machine gun fire in his upper right back. His right arm was also injured so badly that it was unrecognizable. He had to wait nine long hours on the Italian battlefield before he was finally taken to the Fifteenth Evacuation Hospital. He was eventually transferred to a U.S. Army hospital in Michigan, where he would begin his recovery, and survive all the serious injuries and operations. The extensive wounds in his right arm though rendered his right-arm completely paralyzed. Today, Dole often carries a pen in the hand of his paralyzed right arm.

Dole was twice decorated for heroic achievement, receiving two Purple Hearts for his injuries, and the Bronze Star Medal with combat "V" for valor for his attempt to assist a downed radio man.

Career

Dole ran for office for the first time in 1950 and was elected to the Kansas House of Representatives, serving a two-year term. Dole was admitted to the bar and commenced the practice of law in his hometown of Russell in 1952.

Also in 1952 Dole became the County Attorney of Russell County, serving in that position for eight years. In 1960, Dole was elected to the United States House of Representatives from Kansas' 6th Congressional District, located in central Kansas. In 1962, his district was merged with the 3rd District in western Kansas to form the United States House of Representatives, 1st District, a huge 60-county district which soon became known as the "Big First." Dole was reelected that year and twice thereafter without serious difficulty.

U.S. Senate

In 1968 he was elected to the United States Senate, succeeding retiring Senator Frank Carlson and was re-elected in 1974, 1980, 1986, and 1992, until resigning on June 11, 1996 to focus his efforts on his Presidential campaign. He only faced one truly enthusiastic and well-financed challenge, and that was in 1974 by Congressmen Dr. Bill Roy, Dole would win reelection in 1974, but only by a few thousand votes. While in the Senate he also served as chairman of the Republican National Committee from 1971 until 1973. When the Republicans took control of the Senate after the 1980 elections, Dole became chairman of the Finance Committee in 1981, serving until 1985. From 1985, when Howard Baker of Tennessee retired, until his resignation from the Senate, Dole was the leader of the Senate Republicans, serving as Majority Leader from 1985 until 1987 and again from 1995 to 1996. He served as Minority Leader from 1987 to 1995. During his first stint as majority leader, he also served on the Special Committee on Security and Cooperation in Europe.

Dole had a moderate voting record and was widely considered to be one of the few Republicans who could bridge the gap between the moderate and conservative wings of the Kansas Republican Party.

Presidential politics

In 1976 Dole ran unsuccessfully for Vice President of the United States on a ticket headed by Gerald Ford, replacing incumbent Vice President Nelson Rockefeller. Many Republicans regarded Rockefeller as too liberal. He also ran unsuccessfully for the Republican Presidential nomination in 1980 and made a more serious bid for the Republican presidential nomination in 1988, losing to then-Vice President George H.W. Bush. The contest between the two was bitter, although they differed little on issues. At one point when a newscaster was conducting a conversation with both of them he asked Dole if he had anything to say to Bush. "Tell him to stop lying about my record," he replied.

Dole was the early frontrunner for the GOP nomination in the 1996 presidential race, and was expected to represent the party establishment against the more conservative Senator Phil Gramm of Texas. However, Gramm's thunder was stolen by commentator Pat Buchanan, who upset Dole to win the New Hampshire primary, with former Tennessee governor Lamar Alexander finishing a strong third. Publisher Steve Forbes also entered the race, paying for a stream of negative ads out of his personal funds. The crowded Republican field numbered at least eight serious candidates.

Dole secured the nomination, but had been forced to spend more than he had planned, and until the convention in San Diego faced federal limits on campaign spending. He hoped to use his long experience in Senate procedures to maximize publicity from the rare positioning of a Senate Majority Leader against an incumbent President, but was stymied by Senate Democrats. On May 16, 1996 he resigned his seat to focus on the campaign.

File:Bob Dole Time.jpg

Dole on cover of Time magazine, 1996.

The incumbent, Bill Clinton, had no serious primary opposition, and had rebounded in popularity partly by portraying Congressional Republicans as extremists. Dole promised a 15% across-the-board reduction in income tax rates, and made former Congressman and supply side hero Jack Kemp his running mate; these maneuvers, however, failed to inspire the voting population. Dole also found himself criticized from both the left and the right within the Republican Party over the convention platform, as well as the additional challenge of eccentric billionaire Ross Perot's entry into the race.

In the event, Clinton won the election handily, taking 379-159 Electoral College votes and 49.2% of the popular vote against Dole's 40.7%. It was widely acknowledged to be Dole's last political campaign, and he entered retirement at age 73 as the elder statesman of the GOP.

Retirement

Dole has worked part-time for a Washington, DC, law firm, and engaged in a career of writing, consulting, public speaking, and television appearances. This has included becoming a television commercial spokesman for such products as Viagra and Pepsi-Cola, and as an occasional political commentator on the popular American interview program Larry King Live. He was, for a short time, a commentator opposite Bill Clinton on CBS's 60 Minutes. He guest-starred as himself on NBC's Brooke Shields sitcom Suddenly Susan in January 1997 (shortly after losing the presidential election). On the Larry King show he had a heated exchange with Democratic presidential primary candidate Wesley Clark in which he correctly predicted that Clark would lose the New Hampshire primary and other primaries.

The Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics, housed on the University of Kansas campus in Lawrence, Kansas, was established to bring bipartisanship back to politics. The Institute, which opened in July 2003 to coincide with Dole's 80th birthday, has featured such notables as President Bill Clinton and New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

Dole has written several books, including one on jokes told by the Presidents of the United States, in which he ranks the presidents according to their humorousness. President Clinton awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom in early 1997 for his service in the military and his political career. He also received the American Patriot Award on December 3, 2004 for his lifelong dedication to America and his service in World War II.

In December of 2004, Dole had a hip-replacement operation, which required him to receive blood thinners. One month after the surgery, while in his Watergate apartment, he felt light-headed and fell. Doctors told him that the blood thinners had caused internal bleeding and light-headedness.

A quick trip to the hospital and a few stitches later, he was taken back home, but he felt ill, and had to be taken back to Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where it was determined that he was bleeding inside his head. He spent 40 days at Walter Reed, and when he was released, his "good" arm, the left, was of limited use. He told a reporter that he needed help to handle the simplest of tasks, since both of his arms are currently injured. He undergoes physical therapy for his left shoulder once a week, but doctors have told him that he may not regain total use of his left arm.

Dole is currently special counsel at the Washington, D.C., lobbying firm of Aaron Woo. On 2005-04-12, Bob Dole released his biography One Soldier's Story: A Memoir (ISBN 0060763418), which talks of his World War II experiences and his battle to survive his war injuries.

Personal life

Dole married Phyllis Holden, an occupational therapist at a Veterans Hospital, in Battle Creek, Michigan in 1948. His daughter Robin was born in 1954. Dole and Phyllis divorced in 1972.

Dole has been married to Senator Elizabeth Dole, née Hanford of North Carolina since 1975. Elizabeth ran an unsuccessful campaign for the Republican nomination for President in 2000 and was elected to the United States Senate in 2002.

References

• Clinton, Bill (2005). My Life. Vintage. ISBN 140003003X.

External links

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress [1]

• His official website
• His hometown's biography of him
• His remarks at the dedication of the Dole Institute of Politics at the University of Kansas
• His memorial to Ronald Reagan after Reagan's death (registration required)
• This American Life: 1996 broadcast on Bob Dole, in RealAudio format
• The Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics
• A page examining his early life