After another sail on a sinking Bob Dole for President ship in 1988, Elizabeth Dole joined the Bush Administration as Secretary of Labor. In this position, she showed her conservative colors by working to fix the crack in the glass ceiling that had allowed her advancement. When it appeared that pressure from the women's movement and organized labor would finally succeed in winning enactment of a strong Family and Medical Leave Act, Dole led the opposition. She told the Detroit Economic Club in April that she wants to extend the North American Free Trade Agreement to include Central and South America. Dole left the Bush Administration in 1991, moving several blocks from the Labor Department to the American Red Cross headquarters.
Reality is more complex.
Dole got far better grades as the friendly face of husband Bob's unsuccessful 1996 Presidential campaign. While Bob was ill at ease on the religious-right circuit, Elizabeth became a more familiar figure in America's pulpits than fellow North Carolinian Billy Graham. She told stories of playing the piano for the men's Bible class at her childhood church in Salisbury. She spoke of her commitment to read the Bible at least thirty minutes each day. And she engaged in the requisite Hollywood bashing.