Career timeline
■ As a college student, Bob Dole had planned to be a doctor. World War II changed his life’s direction. He nearly died from injuries sustained as a second lieutenant leading an assault on German forces. After three years of surgeries and physical therapy, Dole regained the ability to dress, eat and walk. But he never recovered use of his right hand and arm, and much of his left hand was numb. Dole returned to college, earned a law degree and was elected county attorney. “The theory was, if I can’t use my hands, I can use my head,” he later recalled.
■ Dole was a senator already known for his biting remarks when President Gerald Ford chose him as his running mate.
■ Dole rebounded from his ticket’s loss to Jimmy Carter and Mondale. He once analyzed the 1976 presidential campaign this way: “President Ford was supposed to take the high road, and I was supposed to go for the jugular. And I did — my own.”
■ During his nearly 36 years in Congress, Dole became known as a tough deal-maker, trusted to craft bipartisan compromises. “You’ve got to make the hard choices,” Dole said. It was not for him to “vote no against all the hard things and vote yes for all the easy things, and you go out and make speeches about how tough you are.”
■ In May 1996, Senate Majority
Leader Dole surprised his colleagues by announcing that he would resign his seat to devote himself to his presidential campaign.
■ As a 73-year-old presidential nominee, Dole faced questions about his age. It didn’t help when he tumbled off a campaign stage in Chico, California, landing in the dirt.
■ Dole chose comedian David Letterman’s show for his first postelection appearance. He unleashed a sharp wit that had been mostly kept hidden during the campaign. Invited to dish about Bill Clinton’s weight, Dole demurred: “I never tried to lift him. I just tried to beat him.”
■ Dole was a driving force behind construction of the World War II Memorial on the National Mall. He spoke poignantly at its 2004 dedication before tens of thousands of fellow veterans in their 80s and 90s about “the physical and moral courage that makes heroes out of farm and city boys.”
■ In 2012, looking frail and using a wheelchair, Dole returned to the Senate floor to rally support for passage of the U.N. treaty on the rights of the disabled, which was modeled after the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act he had shepherded through the Senate.
The treaty, opposed by most of the Republican senators, failed despite his personal appeal.
■ In 2014, at age 90, Dole embarked on a series of sentimental tours of his home state, with a campaign-style pace of three or four stops per day.
■ “I’m proof that it’s never too late to join Twitter,” Dole, then 92, tweeted from his new social media account in June 2016.
■ In September 2018, then-president Donald Trump signed legislation to award Dole the Congressional Gold Medal, one of the highest civilian honors bestowed in the United States, in recognition of Dole’s Army service and long political career.
■ On Dec. 4, 2018, Dole made an emotional appearance before the casket of another World War II veteran, former President George H.W. Bush, in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda. As an aide lifted Dole from his wheelchair, a clearly ailing Dole slowly steadied himself and saluted
Bush with his left hand, chin quivering. Witnessed by many, it was a moving tribute to his onetime political rival.
■ Dole announced on Feb. 18, 2021, that he had been diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer and that he would start treatment in a few days. An outpouring of sympathy, prayers and well-wishes from across the political spectrum followed on social media. Dole said: “While I certainly have some hurdles ahead, I also know that I join millions of Americans who face significant health challenges of their own.”