Bob Dole

From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia Robert Joseph Dole July 22 1923 December 5 2021 was an American politician and attorney who represented Kansas in the United States Senate from 1969 to 1996 He was the Republican Leader of the Senate during the final 11 years of his tenure including three nonconsecutive years as Senate Majority Leader Prior to his 27 years in the Senate he served in the United States House of Representatives from 1961 to 1969 Dole was also the Republican presidential nominee in the 1996 election and the vice presidential nominee in the 1976 election Dole was born and raised in Russell Kansas where he established a legal career after serving with distinction in the United States Army during World War II Following 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 Democratic President Bill Clintons health care plan 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 Clinton making Dole the first unsuccessful major party nominee for both president and vice president He resigned from the Senate during the 1996 campaign and did not seek public office again after the election Dole remained active after retiring from public office 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 in the general election Dole was a member of the advisory council of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation and special counsel at the Washington DC office of law firm Alston Bird Dole was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal on January 17 2018 He was married to former US Senator Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina In February 2021 Dole announced he was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer and would undergo treatment Dole received immunotherapy to treat the disease forgoing chemotherapy due to its negative effect on his body Dole died from the disease in his sleep on the morning of December 5 2021 at the age of 98