“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.
Dole tried to shift the focus to questions about the personal character of his opponent, President Bill Clinton. It didn’t help when he tumbled off a campaign stage in Chico, California, landing in the dirt. “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.”Īs a 73-year-old presidential nominee, Dole faced questions about his age. 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. 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.” “You’ve got to make the hard choices,” Dole said. And I did - my own.”ĭuring his nearly 36 years in Congress, Dole became known as a tough deal-maker, trusted to craft bipartisan compromises. 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. He toned down his barbs, directing more of them toward himself. Walter Mondale, responded.ĭole rebounded from his ticket’s loss to Jimmy Carter and Mondale. “Senator Dole has richly earned his reputation as a hatchet man tonight,” his Democratic opponent, Minnesota Sen. 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. “The theory was, if I can’t use my hands, I can use my head,” he later recalled.ĭole was a senator already known for his biting remarks when President Gerald Ford chose him as his running mate. Dole returned to college, earned a law degree and was elected county attorney.
But he never recovered use of his right hand and arm, and much of his left hand was numb. After three years of surgeries and physical therapy, Dole regained the ability to dress, eat and walk. He nearly died from injuries sustained as a second lieutenant leading an assault on German forces. World War II changed his life’s direction. In retirement, Dole kept working into his 90s for the causes he cherished.Ī look at some of the moments from a life in politics:Īs a college student, Dole had planned to be a doctor. WASHINGTON (AP) - Bob Dole’s political careerbegan in 1950 with election to the Kansas Legislature and officially ended nearly five decades later, one step short of the White House.