Dole, Elizabeth Hanford, 1936-

Mary Elizabeth "Liddy" Alexander Hanford Dole (born July 29, 1936) is an American politician and author who served in the Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and George H. W. Bush presidential administrations. She also served in the United States Senate from 2003 to 2009.

A native of Salisbury, North Carolina and a graduate of Duke University, Harvard University, and Harvard Law School, Elizabeth Hanford moved to Washington, DC after earning her law degree, building a formidable resume over the following decades. She began her career in 1967 as a staff assistant to the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare in the Lyndon B. Johnson administration. After leaving in 1968, Hanford worked for the President’s Committee for Consumer Interests, which later became the Office of Consumer Affairs when President Richard M. Nixon took office. She also served as a member of the Federal Trade Commission as an advocate for consumer issues. Originally a Democrat, she changed her party affiliation to Independent while working in the Nixon White House; after her 1975 marriage to Kansas Senator Robert Dole, she switched her party affiliation to Republican.

When Ronald Reagan was elected President in 1980, he appointed Dole as director of the White House Office of Public Liaison. Three years later, Reagan named her as the first woman to hold the Cabinet post of U.S. Secretary of Transportation, a position she held from 1983 to 1987. After George H. W. Bush won election as President in 1988, Dole became Secretary in the Labor Department, serving from 1989 to 1991 when she resigned to become the president of the American Red Cross, remaining in that role until resigning in 1999 to undertake an abortive run for the Republican nomination for President of the United States.

When longtime incumbent North Carolina Senator Jesse Helms announced his retirement in 2002, Dole decided to seek his seat. She easily won the GOP primary, taking 80 percent of the vote against six opponents. Although she faced criticism for having lived outside North Carolina for decades, she emphasized her roots in the state and traveled to all 100 North Carolina counties to meet with voters. On Election Day, Dole defeated Bowles with 53 percent of the vote. Though a heavy favorite for reelection in 2008, Dole would lose by a nine-point margin to Democratic State Senator Kay Hagan.

In 2012 Dole, whose husband Robert suffered grave injuries during combat in World War II, founded the Elizabeth Dole Foundation, which supports caregivers and family members of wounded veterans.