Obituary: Bob Dole

 Today the world, or at least the decent world, was saddened to learn of the passing of former and longtime U.S. Senator Bob Dole of Kansas, who died at the  premature age of 98.  He gained prominence as Senate leader during his years in the legislative body.  Dole was known for his caustic sense of humor, often directed at himself.  He somewhat resembled Richard Nixon in appearance, and he was an admirer of the disgraced former president.

 

Dole, with the late Jack Kemp, represented the Republican Party ticket for president in 1996.  They lost to Bill Clinton and Al Gore.  As I remember, Dole and Clinton became very good friends.  Previously, Dole had been on the presidential ticket with then-President Gerald Ford when his VP, Nelson Rockefeller, declined to run on the 1976  ticket.  Of course, the GOP ticket lost to Jimmy Carter and Walter Mondale.  The defeat helped set the stage for an internal battle for the soul of the GOP, with the soulless far right taking over power.  To date, it has yet to relinquish its grasp on the party.

Many people criticized Bob Dole for being a little bit too much on the take from corporate interests.  This had been documented in a book published years ago about him titled Senator for Sale.  Compared to the current Senate leader, Dole was a paragon of virtue.

Almost everybody admired Dole for his courage during his service in World War II, which he was seriously injured and rendered his right arm useless for all intents and purposes.  He was the last GOP presidential candidate who had served during World War II

Dole was not the only extremely long-lived GOP presidential candidate from Kansas.  Alf Landon, a governor from the state, lived to be 100 years old.  He ran against FDR in 1936, being buried under a landslide.  

Both men had lots and lots of nepotism in their families.  Dole's second wife was Elizabeth Hanford, who served in the U.S. government and later became senator from North Carolina.  They married in December of 1975.  Tomorrow would have been their 46th wedding anniversary.  As for Alf Landon, his daughter is former U.S. senator Nancy Landon Kassebaum.  Her second husband was the late former senator Howard Baker.  Baker's first wife was the daughter of Illinois senator, Senate leader and national folk hero Everett Dirksen.  As I said, there is nothing like nepotism in politics.

Dole reportedly underwent stage IV lung cancer treatment in February.

New York Times obit:

As the old soldiers of World War II faded away, Mr. Dole, who had been a lieutenant in the Army’s storied 10th Mountain Division and was wounded so severely on a battlefield that he was left for dead, came to personify the resilience of his generation. In his post-political career, he devoted himself to raising money for the World War II Memorial in Washington and spent weekends there welcoming visiting veterans. 

In one of his last public appearances, in December 2018, he joined the line at the Capitol Rotunda where the body of former President George H.W. Bush, an erstwhile political rival and fellow veteran, lay in state. As an aide helped him up from his wheelchair, Mr. Dole, using his left hand because his right had been rendered useless by the war, saluted the flag-draped coffin of the last president to have served in World War II.