Almost President: Bob Dole
Over the years Republicans and Democrats alike have looked to congressional leaders to find their candidates for the presidency, especially in years where it looked like they were up against a strong incumbent. (Recent examples are John McCain, Barry Goldwater and John Kerry.) They have also looked for candidates who served in combat (such as Harry Truman, George H. W. Bush, Kerry or McCain). The late Robert Joseph Dole fit both of those descriptions, and he also exemplified the principles of civility in politics.
Bob Dole was born in Russell, Kansas on July 22, 1923. Dole's father operated a small creamery. The Great Depression hit Kansas very hard and tough economic times forced the Dole family to live in the basement of their home and rent out the rest of the house. Dole was a star high school athlete in Russell, and he was recruited to play for University of Kansas basketball team. While at KU, Dole played for the basketball team, the track team, and the football team. In football, Dole earned varsity letters in 1942 and 1944.
Dole's pre-med studies at KU were interrupted by World War II. In 1942, Dole joined the United States Army to fight in World War II, becoming a second lieutenant in the Army's 10th Mountain Division. In April 1945, while engaged in combat near Castel d'Aiano in the Apennine mountains southwest of Bologna, Italy, Dole was hit by German machine gun fire in his upper right back and his right arm was also badly injured. The hospital where Dole recovered from his wounds, the former Battle Creek Sanitarium, is now named Hart-Dole-Inouye Federal Center in honor of three patients who became United States Senators: Dole, Philip Hart and Daniel Inouye. Dole was decorated three times, receiving two Purple Hearts for his injuries, and the Bronze Star with combat "V" for valor for his attempt to assist a downed radio man.
After the war, Dole returned to become a law student, attending the University of Arizona from 1948 to 1951. He completed his law degree at Washburn University in Topeka in 1952. It must have been so difficult for Dole, not just physically, but emotionally as well. One day he's a college basketball player, the next day he's wounded in combat and has a physical disability for life. There is much to be said for the man from the fact that he didn't resign from life, but continued to excel.
Dole ran for office for the first time in 1950 and was elected to the Kansas House of Representatives, serving a two-year term. After graduating from law school at Washburn University in Topeka, he was admitted to the bar and commenced the practice of law in his hometown of Russell in 1952. 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 1968, Dole defeated Kansas Governor William H. Avery for the Republican nomination for the United States Senate to succeed retiring Senator Frank Carlson, and won election to the senate later that year. Dole was re-elected in 1974, 1980, 1986, and 1992, before resigning on June 11, 1996, to focus on his Presidential campaign. While in the Senate, Dole served as chairman of the Republican National Committee from 1971 until 1973, the ranking Republican on the Agriculture Committee from 1975 to 1978, and the ranking Republican on the Finance Committee from 1979 to 1980. 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 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. Dole served as Minority Leader from 1987 to 1995.
Dole had a moderate voting record and was widely considered to be one of the few Kansas Republicans who could bridge the gap between the moderate and conservative wings of the Kansas Republican Party, a skill that is sadly lacking today. As a Congressman in the early '60s, he supported the major civil rights bills, which appealed to moderates. When Lyndon Johnson proposed the Great Society in 1964-65, Dole voted against some War on Poverty measures like public-housing subsidies and Medicare, thus appealing to conservatives. Dole's hawkishness on the Vietnam War and on crime issues kept him in good standing with the right wing.
In 1976, Dole ran unsuccessfully for Vice President on a ticket headed by President Gerald Ford. Incumbent Vice President Nelson Rockefeller had withdrawn from consideration the previous fall, and Dole was chosen. Dole stated during the Vice Presidential debate with Walter Mondale, "I figured it up the other day: If we added up the killed and wounded in Democrat wars in this century, it would be about 1.6 million Americans - enough to fill the city of Detroit".
Dole ran for the 1980 Republican Presidential nomination, eventually won by Ronald Reagan. Despite Dole's fame from the '76 campaign, he was a lower-tier candidate. Dole received only 597 votes (less than 1%) in the New Hampshire primary and immediately withdrew. In March 1980, Dole urged former President Ford to jump into the race as a stop-Reagan candidate.
Dole made a more serious bid in 1988. He won primaries or caucuses in Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota, Wyoming and home state Kansas and finished second to George H.W. Bush for the nomination. After the returns had come in on the night of the New Hampshire primary, Dole appeared to lose his temper in a television interview on NBC by Tom Brokaw, who was in the NBC studio in New York. It happened that Bush was right next to Brokaw in the studio. Brokaw asked Bush if he had anything to say to Dole. Bush responded, "No, just wish him well and meet again in the south." Dole, apparently not expecting to see Bush, when asked the same question about the Vice President said, "Yeah, stop lying about my record." Later, after every southern state voted for Bush in a "Super Tuesday" sweep and a later defeat in in Illinois, Dole withdrew from the race.
Dole was the early front runner for the GOP nomination in the 1996 presidential race. Conservative Pat Buchanan upset Dole in the early New Hampshire primary, with Dole finishing second, but Dole eventually won the nomination, becoming the oldest first-time presidential nominee up to that time at the age of 73 years, 1-month (Ronald Reagan was 73 years, 6 months in 1984, for his second presidential nomination). On June 11, 1996, Dole resigned his seat to focus on the campaign, saying he was either heading for "The White House or home".
In the election campaign, Dole promised a 15% across-the-board cut in income tax rates and made former Congressman and supply side advocate Jack Kemp his running mate. President Bill Clinton framed the narrative against Dole early, painting him as a mere clone of unpopular then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich, warning America that Dole would work in concert with the Republican Congress to slash popular social programs, like Medicare and Social Security, dubbed by Clinton as "Dole-Gingrich". Dole's tax-cut plan found itself under attack from the White House, who said it would "blow a hole in the deficit". Clinton won in a 379-159 Electoral College landslide, winning by a margin of 220, capturing 49.2% of the vote against Dole's 40.7% and Ross Perot's 8.4%.
Dole is the only person in the history of the two major U.S. political parties to have been his party's nominee for both President and Vice President, but who was never elected to either office.
In retirement Dole worked part-time for a Washington, D.C., law firm, Alston & Bird LLP, 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, Visa, Dunkin' Donuts and Pepsi-Cola (with Britney Spears). Dole guest-starred as himself on NBC's Brooke Shields sitcom Suddenly Susan in January 1997 (shortly after losing the presidential election). He also made a cameo appearance on Saturday Night Live, parodying himself in November 1996. In 2001, Dole, at age 77, was treated successfully for an abdominal aortic aneurysm.
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 former President Bill Clinton and former 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 level of humor. On January 17, 1997, President Clinton awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his service in the military and his political career. Dole received the American Patriot Award in 2004 for his lifelong dedication to America and his service in World War II.
In recent years, Dole has struggled with health problems. In December 2004, he had a hip-replacement operation which required him to receive blood thinners. One month after the surgery, it was determined that Dole was bleeding inside his head. He spent 40 days at Walter Reed, and upon release, his "good" arm, the left, was of limited use. In 2009, he was hospitalized for an elevated heart rate and in February 2010, he was hospitalized for pneumonia after undergoing knee surgery. In January 2011, Dole was readmitted to Walter Reed Hospital and spent about six days there, being treated for a fever as well as a minor infection.
Dole endorsed Mitt Romney for the Republican nomination. On December 4, 2012, Dole made an appearance on the Senate floor to advocate ratification of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Senate rejected the treaty by a vote of 61-38, less than the 66 required for ratification. Many Republican senators voted against the bill, fearing it would impact American sovereignty.
Dole endorsed Donald Trump after Trump clinched the Republican nomination, while all other then-living Republican presidential nominees, George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, John McCain, and Mitt Romney refused to do so. He was the only former nominee to attend the 2016 Republican National Convention. Dole had attended every GOP convention since 1964.
Dole was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for his service to the nation as a "soldier, legislator and statesman" in January 2018. Although he endorsed Trump in both 2016 and 2020, in an interview with USA Today conducted for his 98th birthday, Dole said he was "Trumped out, " adding, "He lost the election, and I regret that he did, but they did."
In February 2021, Dole announced that he had been diagnosed with stage four lung cancer. He subsequently underwent immunotherapy, but passed on chemotherapy because of its harmful effects on a man his age. He died in his sleep at his home in Washington, D.C., on the morning of December 5, 2021, at the age of 98.
Bob Dole was born in Russell, Kansas on July 22, 1923. Dole's father operated a small creamery. The Great Depression hit Kansas very hard and tough economic times forced the Dole family to live in the basement of their home and rent out the rest of the house. Dole was a star high school athlete in Russell, and he was recruited to play for University of Kansas basketball team. While at KU, Dole played for the basketball team, the track team, and the football team. In football, Dole earned varsity letters in 1942 and 1944.
Dole's pre-med studies at KU were interrupted by World War II. In 1942, Dole joined the United States Army to fight in World War II, becoming a second lieutenant in the Army's 10th Mountain Division. In April 1945, while engaged in combat near Castel d'Aiano in the Apennine mountains southwest of Bologna, Italy, Dole was hit by German machine gun fire in his upper right back and his right arm was also badly injured. The hospital where Dole recovered from his wounds, the former Battle Creek Sanitarium, is now named Hart-Dole-Inouye Federal Center in honor of three patients who became United States Senators: Dole, Philip Hart and Daniel Inouye. Dole was decorated three times, receiving two Purple Hearts for his injuries, and the Bronze Star with combat "V" for valor for his attempt to assist a downed radio man.
After the war, Dole returned to become a law student, attending the University of Arizona from 1948 to 1951. He completed his law degree at Washburn University in Topeka in 1952. It must have been so difficult for Dole, not just physically, but emotionally as well. One day he's a college basketball player, the next day he's wounded in combat and has a physical disability for life. There is much to be said for the man from the fact that he didn't resign from life, but continued to excel.
Dole ran for office for the first time in 1950 and was elected to the Kansas House of Representatives, serving a two-year term. After graduating from law school at Washburn University in Topeka, he was admitted to the bar and commenced the practice of law in his hometown of Russell in 1952. 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 1968, Dole defeated Kansas Governor William H. Avery for the Republican nomination for the United States Senate to succeed retiring Senator Frank Carlson, and won election to the senate later that year. Dole was re-elected in 1974, 1980, 1986, and 1992, before resigning on June 11, 1996, to focus on his Presidential campaign. While in the Senate, Dole served as chairman of the Republican National Committee from 1971 until 1973, the ranking Republican on the Agriculture Committee from 1975 to 1978, and the ranking Republican on the Finance Committee from 1979 to 1980. 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 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. Dole served as Minority Leader from 1987 to 1995.
Dole had a moderate voting record and was widely considered to be one of the few Kansas Republicans who could bridge the gap between the moderate and conservative wings of the Kansas Republican Party, a skill that is sadly lacking today. As a Congressman in the early '60s, he supported the major civil rights bills, which appealed to moderates. When Lyndon Johnson proposed the Great Society in 1964-65, Dole voted against some War on Poverty measures like public-housing subsidies and Medicare, thus appealing to conservatives. Dole's hawkishness on the Vietnam War and on crime issues kept him in good standing with the right wing.
In 1976, Dole ran unsuccessfully for Vice President on a ticket headed by President Gerald Ford. Incumbent Vice President Nelson Rockefeller had withdrawn from consideration the previous fall, and Dole was chosen. Dole stated during the Vice Presidential debate with Walter Mondale, "I figured it up the other day: If we added up the killed and wounded in Democrat wars in this century, it would be about 1.6 million Americans - enough to fill the city of Detroit".
Dole ran for the 1980 Republican Presidential nomination, eventually won by Ronald Reagan. Despite Dole's fame from the '76 campaign, he was a lower-tier candidate. Dole received only 597 votes (less than 1%) in the New Hampshire primary and immediately withdrew. In March 1980, Dole urged former President Ford to jump into the race as a stop-Reagan candidate.
Dole made a more serious bid in 1988. He won primaries or caucuses in Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota, Wyoming and home state Kansas and finished second to George H.W. Bush for the nomination. After the returns had come in on the night of the New Hampshire primary, Dole appeared to lose his temper in a television interview on NBC by Tom Brokaw, who was in the NBC studio in New York. It happened that Bush was right next to Brokaw in the studio. Brokaw asked Bush if he had anything to say to Dole. Bush responded, "No, just wish him well and meet again in the south." Dole, apparently not expecting to see Bush, when asked the same question about the Vice President said, "Yeah, stop lying about my record." Later, after every southern state voted for Bush in a "Super Tuesday" sweep and a later defeat in in Illinois, Dole withdrew from the race.
Dole was the early front runner for the GOP nomination in the 1996 presidential race. Conservative Pat Buchanan upset Dole in the early New Hampshire primary, with Dole finishing second, but Dole eventually won the nomination, becoming the oldest first-time presidential nominee up to that time at the age of 73 years, 1-month (Ronald Reagan was 73 years, 6 months in 1984, for his second presidential nomination). On June 11, 1996, Dole resigned his seat to focus on the campaign, saying he was either heading for "The White House or home".
In the election campaign, Dole promised a 15% across-the-board cut in income tax rates and made former Congressman and supply side advocate Jack Kemp his running mate. President Bill Clinton framed the narrative against Dole early, painting him as a mere clone of unpopular then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich, warning America that Dole would work in concert with the Republican Congress to slash popular social programs, like Medicare and Social Security, dubbed by Clinton as "Dole-Gingrich". Dole's tax-cut plan found itself under attack from the White House, who said it would "blow a hole in the deficit". Clinton won in a 379-159 Electoral College landslide, winning by a margin of 220, capturing 49.2% of the vote against Dole's 40.7% and Ross Perot's 8.4%.
Dole is the only person in the history of the two major U.S. political parties to have been his party's nominee for both President and Vice President, but who was never elected to either office.
In retirement Dole worked part-time for a Washington, D.C., law firm, Alston & Bird LLP, 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, Visa, Dunkin' Donuts and Pepsi-Cola (with Britney Spears). Dole guest-starred as himself on NBC's Brooke Shields sitcom Suddenly Susan in January 1997 (shortly after losing the presidential election). He also made a cameo appearance on Saturday Night Live, parodying himself in November 1996. In 2001, Dole, at age 77, was treated successfully for an abdominal aortic aneurysm.
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 former President Bill Clinton and former 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 level of humor. On January 17, 1997, President Clinton awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his service in the military and his political career. Dole received the American Patriot Award in 2004 for his lifelong dedication to America and his service in World War II.
In recent years, Dole has struggled with health problems. In December 2004, he had a hip-replacement operation which required him to receive blood thinners. One month after the surgery, it was determined that Dole was bleeding inside his head. He spent 40 days at Walter Reed, and upon release, his "good" arm, the left, was of limited use. In 2009, he was hospitalized for an elevated heart rate and in February 2010, he was hospitalized for pneumonia after undergoing knee surgery. In January 2011, Dole was readmitted to Walter Reed Hospital and spent about six days there, being treated for a fever as well as a minor infection.
Dole endorsed Mitt Romney for the Republican nomination. On December 4, 2012, Dole made an appearance on the Senate floor to advocate ratification of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Senate rejected the treaty by a vote of 61-38, less than the 66 required for ratification. Many Republican senators voted against the bill, fearing it would impact American sovereignty.
Dole endorsed Donald Trump after Trump clinched the Republican nomination, while all other then-living Republican presidential nominees, George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, John McCain, and Mitt Romney refused to do so. He was the only former nominee to attend the 2016 Republican National Convention. Dole had attended every GOP convention since 1964.
Dole was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for his service to the nation as a "soldier, legislator and statesman" in January 2018. Although he endorsed Trump in both 2016 and 2020, in an interview with USA Today conducted for his 98th birthday, Dole said he was "Trumped out, " adding, "He lost the election, and I regret that he did, but they did."
In February 2021, Dole announced that he had been diagnosed with stage four lung cancer. He subsequently underwent immunotherapy, but passed on chemotherapy because of its harmful effects on a man his age. He died in his sleep at his home in Washington, D.C., on the morning of December 5, 2021, at the age of 98.