Dole, Elizabeth Hanford, 1936-

<p>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.</p>

<p>A graduate of Duke University and Harvard Law School, Dole served as Secretary of Transportation under Ronald Reagan and Secretary of Labor under George H. W. Bush before becoming head of the American Red Cross. She next served as North Carolina's first female U.S. Senator (2003–09). She is a member of the Republican Party and former chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. She is married to former U.S. Senate Majority Leader, 1976 Republican vice-presidential nominee and 1996 Republican presidential nominee Bob Dole.</p>

<p>Dole was born Mary Elizabeth Alexander Hanford in Salisbury, North Carolina, to Mary Ella (née Cathey; 1901–2004) and John Van Hanford (1893–1978).</p>

<p>She attended individually, and later with her husband, the Foundry United Methodist Church in Washington, D.C., before joining the National Presbyterian Church in 1996. Articles at the time reported that the Doles stopped attending Foundry in 1995, finding the pastor at the time, J. Philip Wogaman, too liberal.</p>

<p>As the first woman to serve in the U.S. Senate from North Carolina, Elizabeth Dole brought years of governmental experience to Capitol Hill. A former U.S. Secretary of Transportation and U.S. Secretary of Labor in two different presidential Cabinets, Dole used her committee assignments to look after military bases, the financial services industry, and farmers in North Carolina. “We have a lot to be proud of in North Carolina,” she said in her election victory speech, “but we also have a lot of work to do. Too many people are out of work, and too many people are turned off on politics. I have listened. I’ve learned and I will not let you down.”</p>

<p>Elizabeth Hanford Dole was born Mary Elizabeth Hanford on July 29, 1936, in Salisbury, North Carolina, to John Van Hanford, a florist, and Mary Ella Cathey Hanford. Dole graduated from Boyden High School and earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from Duke University in 1958. After graduation, she moved to Massachusetts and earned a master’s degree in education from Harvard University in 1960. During her studies, she worked in the Capitol Hill office of North Carolina Senator Benjamin Everett Jordan. Dole continued her education at Harvard Law School, earning her law degree in 1965, against the wishes of her mother who believed that her daughter should focus on domestic responsibilities. “I was listening to the beat of a different drummer,” she later recollected.</p>

<p>As a new attorney, Dole was drawn to the nation’s capital. “Washington was like a magnet,” she said. She picked the capital city over New York and Boston because she felt that in Washington, “the doors were more open to women.” In the decades that followed, Dole built a formidable résumé. 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, she 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 registered as a Democrat, Dole changed her party affiliation to Independent while working for Nixon. At the White House she met Republican Senator Robert Joseph Dole of Kansas, then the chairman of the Republican National Committee; they married in 1975. After her marriage, Dole switched her party affiliation to Republican. Robert Dole later served for more than a decade as Republican Leader in the Senate.</p>