Memorable moments from Bob Dole’s life and political career

WASHINGTON ( AP) — Bob Dole’s political career began in 1950 with election to the Kansas Legislature and officially ended nearly five decades later, one step short of the White House. In retirement, Dole kept working into his 90s for the causes he cherished.

A look at some of the moments from a life in politics:

As a college student, 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 shocked viewers of the 1976 vice presidential debate by declaring the wars of the 20th century so far — the two world wars, Korea and Vietnam — to be “Democrat wars” that had killed or wounded 1.6 million Americans. “Senator Dole has richly earned his reputation as a hatchet man tonight,” his Democratic opponent, Minnesota Sen. Walter Mondale, responded.

Dole rebounded from his ticket’s loss to Jimmy Carter and Mondale. He toned down his barbs, directing more of them toward himself. 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 Nov. 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. “I will seek the presidency with nothing to fall back on but the judgment of the people,” he said, “and nowhere to go but the White House or home.”

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 tried to shift the focus to questions about the personal character of his opponent, President Bill Clinton. “If something happened along the route and you had to leave your children with Bob Dole or Bill Clinton,” Dole told voters, “I think you would probably leave them with Bob Dole.” Polling on the question suggested parents felt otherwise.

Hoping to revive his presidential campaign, Dole launched a roundthe- clock marathon of events over the final 96-hour stretch to Election Day 1996. When a reporter asked whether Dole had brought enough clean clothes, he quipped, “We’re going to stop at an underwear factory.”

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 Clinton’s weight, Dole demurred: “I never tried to lift him. I just tried to beat him.” Asked whether he would consider accepting a post in Clinton’s administration, Dole said, “Well, if he wanted to give me his job, I’d think about it.”

“I suppose you could say my post-political career really began on that Friday night as viewers discovered that I wasn’t the glowering, Social Security- devouring sourpuss” portrayed in Democratic campaign ads, Dole later wrote.

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.”