Senator Bob Dole is Special Counsel in Alston & Bird’s Washington, D.C. office and a member of the Legislative and Public Policy Group. The 1996 Republican nominee for president and former U.S. Senate Majority Leader is one of the most sought after advisors in the public policy arena.
A renowned statesman who spent 35½ years in Congress, Senator Dole was first elected to Congress from his home state of Kansas in 1960 and to the U.S. Senate in 1968. He gained national prominence as Chairman of the Republican National Committee from 1971 to 1972. In 1976, President Gerald Ford tapped him to be his vice presidential running mate. He served as Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee from 1981-1985. Elected Senate Majority Leader in 1984, Senator Dole holds the record as the nation’s longest serving Republican leader. Dole resigned from the Senate in 1996 to pursue his campaign for President of the United States.
In 1997, Senator Dole received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, which is awarded by the President to persons deemed to have made especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interest of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors. His other celebrated honors include, among others, the Presidential Citizens Medal, the nation’s second highest civilian award; the Distinguished Service Award from the United States Association of Former Members of Congress; the American Legion's prestigious Distinguished Service Medal; the Horatio Alger Award from The Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans; the U.S. Defense Department’s Distinguished Public Service Award; and the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Teddy Roosevelt Award. He is the co-recipient, along with his former Senate colleague George McGovern, of the 2008 World Food Prize, recognizing individuals who have advanced human development through increased quality, quantity and availability of food. In 2004, Senator Dole received the Golden Medal of Freedom from the President of Kosova for his support of the protection, freedom, independence and democracy of Kosova.
In 2007, Senator Dole was selected by President Bush to co-chair the President's Commission on Care for America's Returning Wounded Warriors, which closely examined the comprehensive system of medical care received by U.S. soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Senator Dole served as National Chairman of the World War II Memorial Campaign from 1997 to 2004 and Chairman of the International Commission on Missing Persons in former Yugoslavia from 1997-2001.
Following September 11, he joined former President Bill Clinton as co-chair of the Families of Freedom Scholarship Fund to raise over $120 million for the educational needs of the families of victims. Senator Dole has served as President of the Federal City Council in Washington, D.C., honorary co-chair of the President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation, part of the U.S.A. Freedom Corps, and chairman of the Board of The Dole Foundation, which he established in 1983 to advance educational and workforce opportunities for the disabled. The Robert Dole Scholarship Fund for Disabled Students has recently been established in his honor at the United Negro College Fund.
Senator Dole’s record of public service includes numerous distinguished appointments, including advisor, U.S. Delegation to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, 1965, 1968, 1974, 1975, 1977, 1979; member, Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, 1977; member, National Commission on Social Security Reform, 1983; member, U.S. National Commission for the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, 1970, 1973; advisor, U.S. Delegation to Study the Arab Refugee Problem, 1967; and advisor, President's Delegation to Study the Food Crisis in India, 1966.
Dole has received national acclaim for his leadership on behalf of the disadvantaged and Americans with disabilities. He is a major spokesman on issues involving veterans, hunger and nutrition, and men’s health. He is respected on both sides of the aisle for his views on deficit reduction, economic growth and health care, and for his mastery of foreign affairs.
Senator Dole actively supports the Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics at the University of Kansas, which opened in 2003, and which provides a nationally recognized forum for civil discourse in politics and advances the belief that politics is a noble profession. Along with three other former Senate Majority Leaders – Tom Daschle, George Mitchell and Howard Baker – Senator Dole serves on the Advisory Board of the Bipartisan Policy Center.
Dole’s personal history of service includes active duty in World War II, during which he was gravely wounded and received for heroic achievement two Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star with Oak Leaf Cluster. He is the author of his recent best-selling World War II memoir, One Soldier’s Story, which chronicles his harrowing experience on and off the battlefield and imparts the lessons he learned through his struggle to survive. He is also the author of two books on political humor, Great Presidential Wit, I Wish I Was In The Book and Great Political Wit, Laughing (Almost) All the Way to the White House.
Senator Dole attended the University of Kansas, Lawrence, and received a B.A. and LL.B from Washburn University in 1952. He is admitted to practice in Kansas and the District of Columbia.