Bob Dole

Bob Dole was left for dead on a World War II battlefield. He’d suffered wounds so severe, fellow members of the Army’s 10th Mountain Division couldn’t imagine he’d survive. But survive he did—and he came home a war hero who would eventually serve his country as an American statesman and political leader for nearly eight decades. He died on Sunday, December 5. He was 98.

The wounds of war weren’t the first hardship Dole overcame. He grew up poor in Depression-era Kansas, where he was a football, basketball and track star. His classmates voted him best looking. He dreamed of becoming a surgeon. Instead, after more than three years recovering from his injuries, he became a lawyer and a politician.

Elected first to the Kansas State Legislature in 1951 and then to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1960, the Republican was elected to the Senate in 1968. He became known as a pragmatist and an excellent deal-maker.

A giant in the Senate, he authored the Food Stamp Act, supported the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and shepherded President Ronald Reagan’s Economic Recovery Tax Act—the largest tax cut in American U.S. history—through the legislative process. He also introduced the Women’s Equal Opportunity Act and the Equal Opportunity Act.

President Gerald Ford chose Senator Dole as his vice presidential running mate in 1976. Twenty years later, in August 1996, he became the GOP nominee for president after two previous failed attempts. He gave up his Senate seat to run against Bill Clinton. He lost that race. Clinton later awarded Dole the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his military service and political career.

Tirelessly devoted to public service, Dole spent time after retiring from politics raising money for the National World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C. As chairman of fundraising, he helped raise more than $197 million in cash and pledges for the project. He loved to welcome veterans who came to visit the memorial on weekends. He also co-founded a law firm and bipartisan policy center with Senator Tom Daschle. Outside of the political realm, Dole appeared in TV commercials for Viagra and Pepsi and became an occasional character on The Simpsons.

In January 2018, Dole was presented with the Congressional Gold Medal, Congress’ highest civilian honor, in recognition of his service as a soldier, legislator and statesman. The following spring, lawmakers passed a resolution giving Dole an honorary promotion from the grade of captain to colonel in the U.S. Army.

Dole’s health had been in decline for years. His passing was confirmed publicly by the Elizabeth Dole Foundation: “It is with heavy hearts we announce that Senator Robert Joseph Dole died early this morning in his sleep. At his death, at age 98, he had served the United States of America faithfully for 79 years.”