Dole, Robert Joseph "Bob", 1923-

<p>
DOLE, ROBERT JOSEPH, (husband of Elizabeth H. Dole), a Representative and a Senator from Kansas; born in Russell, Kans., July 22, 1923; graduated, Washburn Municipal University, Topeka, Kans., with an undergraduate and law degree in 1952, after attending Kansas University 1941-1943 and University of Arizona 1948-1949; during the Second World War served as a combat infantry officer in Italy; was wounded twice and hospitalized for thirty-nine months; awarded two Purple Hearts and the Bronze Star with an Oak Cluster for military service; admitted to the bar and commenced the practice of law in Russell, Kans., 1952; member, State house of representatives 1951-1953; county attorney of Russell County 1953-1961; elected as a Republican to the Eighty-seventh Congress and to the three succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1961-January 3, 1969); elected to the United States Senate in 1968, reelected in 1974, 1980, 1986, and 1992, and served from January 3, 1969, to June 11, 1996, when he resigned to campaign for the presidency; majority leader 1985-1987, 1995-1996; minority leader 1987-1995; chairman, Committee on Finance (Ninety-seventh through Ninety-eighth Congresses), Special Committee on Security and Cooperation in Europe (Ninety-ninth Congress); chairman, Republican National Committee 1971-1972; advisor, President's Delegation to Study the Food Crisis in India 1966; advisor, U.S. Delegation to Study the Arab Refugee Problem 1967; advisor, U.S. Delegation to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization 1965, 1968, 1974, 1975, 1977, 1979; member, U.S. National Commission for the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization 1970 and 1973; member, Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe 1977; advisor, GATT Ministerial Trade Conference 1982; member, National Commission on Social Security Reform 1983; member, Martin Luther King, Jr., Federal Holiday Commission 1984; unsuccessful Republican candidate for Vice President of the United States in 1976; unsuccessful candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 1988; unsuccessful Republican nominee for President of the United States in 1996; awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom on January 17, 1997; chairman, International Commission on Missing Persons in the Former Yugoslavia 1997-2001; national chairman, National World War II Memorial 1997-2004; engaged in the practice of law in Washington, D.C., 1997-.</p>

<p>Robert Joseph Dole (born July 22, 1923) is an American retired politician, statesman, and attorney who represented Kansas in the U.S House of Representatives from 1961 to 1969 and in the U.S. Senate from 1969 to 1996, serving as the Republican Leader of the United States Senate from 1985 until 1996. He was the Republican presidential nominee in the 1996 presidential election and the party's vice presidential nominee in the 1976 presidential election.</p>

<p>Born in Russell, Kansas, Dole established a legal career in Russell after serving with distinction in the United States Army during World War II. After a stint as Russell County Attorney, he won election to the House of Representatives in 1960. In 1968, Dole was elected to the Senate, where he served as Chairman of the Republican National Committee from 1971 to 1973 and Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee from 1981 to 1985. He led the Senate Republicans from 1985 to his resignation in 1996, and served as Senate Majority Leader from 1985 to 1987 and from 1995 to 1996. In his role as Republican leader, he helped defeat President Bill Clinton's health care plan.</p>

<p>President Gerald Ford chose Dole as his running mate in the 1976 election after Vice President Nelson Rockefeller withdrew from seeking a full term. Ford was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter in the general election. Dole sought the Republican presidential nomination in 1980 but quickly dropped out of the race. He experienced more success in the 1988 Republican primaries but was defeated by Vice President George H. W. Bush. Dole won the Republican nomination in 1996 and selected Jack Kemp as his running mate. The Republican ticket lost in the general election to Bill Clinton, making Dole the first person to be nominated for both president and vice president by one of the current major parties without winning election to either position. He resigned from the Senate during the 1996 campaign and did not seek public office again after the election.</p>

<p>Though he retired from public office, Dole has remained active in public life after 1996. He appeared in numerous commercials and television programs and served on various councils. In 2012, Dole unsuccessfully advocated Senate ratification of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. He initially supported Jeb Bush in the 2016 Republican primaries, but later became the only former Republican presidential nominee to endorse Donald Trump, after Trump clinched the Republican nomination. Dole is currently a member of the advisory council of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation and special counsel at the Washington, D.C., office of law firm Alston & Bird. On January 17, 2018, Dole was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal. He is married to former U.S. Senator Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina.</p>

<p><b> Politician. Republican. Born: July 22, 1923, Russell, Kansas. Served in U.S. House of Representatives, 6th and 1st Districts: January 3, 1961, to January 3, 1969. Served in U.S. Senate: January 3, 1969, to June 11, 1996.</b></p>

<p>Robert Joseph “Bob” Dole was born in Russell in 1923, to Doran Ray and Bina N. (Talbott) Dole. As a boy growing up in western Kansas during the Great Depression, he worked a number of odd jobs. Forrest "Phog" Allen went to Russell to recruit Dole to play basketball at the University of Kansas. After attending KU from 1941 to 1943, Dole joined the army; he served as a combat infantry officer in Italy and was twice wounded. He was hospitalized for 39 months and was awarded two Purple Hearts and the Bronze Star with an Oak Cluster for military service. He married Phyllis Holden in 1948. They had a daughter. After the war Dole attended the University of Arizona from 1948 to 1949. He graduated from Washburn University Law School in Topeka in 1952. After his admission to the Kansas bar, Dole returned to Russell to practice law.</p>

<p>Dole first ran for office in 1950 and was elected to the Kansas House of Representatives, serving a two-year term. He was county attorney of Russell County for eight years. In 1960 Dole was elected to the U. S. House of Representatives from the Sixth Congressional District in northwest Kansas. In 1962 his district was merged with the Fifth District in western Kansas to form the First Congressional District, a huge 60-county area. Dole was re-elected that year and twice thereafter.</p>

<p>After eight years in the House, he won election to the U. S. Senate in November 1968. While in the Senate, Dole served as chairman of the Republican National Committee from 1971 until 1973, was the ranking Republican on the Agriculture Committee from 1975 to 1978, and majority leader and chair of the Finance Committee in the 1980s and 1990s. He became known as an advocate for veterans and the disabled.</p>

<p>Dole was the G.O.P. nominee for the vice-presidency in 1976, serving as Gerald Ford's running mate. With the Republican convention in Kansas City, Dole later introduced Ford to his home town of Russell at a political rally on the courthouse lawn. He served as senate majority and senate minority leader in the 1980s and 1990s. He was an unsuccessful candidate for the presidential nomination in 1988. He resigned his seat in the Senate on June 11, 1996, after capturing his party's presidential nomination.</p>

<p>Dole and his wife, former North Carolina senator Elizabeth Hanford Dole, live in Washington, D.C., where the former senator practices law and is involved in numerous areas of public service.</p>

<p>He was the Native Sons and Daughters of Kansas' Distinguished Kansan of the Year in 1976. Dole received the Presidential Citizens Medal in 1989, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1997, and the American Patriot Award in 2004. He was named the Native Sons and Daughters' Kansan of the Year in 2003. The Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics was established in 2003 in Lawrence in his honor.</p>