After retiring from the Senate, Dole appeared in commercials and television programs. In 2012, Dole unsuccessfully supporting Senate passing the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Dole is currently a member of the advisory council of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation and special counsel at the Washington, D.C., office of law firm Alston & Bird. On January 17, 2018, Dole was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal. He is married to former U.S. Senator Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina.
Dole was born on July 22, 1923, in Russell, Kansas, the son of Bina M. (née Talbott; 1904–1983) and Doran Ray Dole (1901–1975). The Doles lived in a house at 1035 North Maple in Russell and it remained his official residence during his political career.
Dole graduated from Russell High School in the spring of 1941 and went to the University of Kansas. While at the University of Kansas, Dole played for the basketball team, the track team, and the football team. In 1942 he was a teammate of former Tennessee Titans owner Bud Adams, Adams's only season playing football at Kansas. While in college, Dole joined the Kappa Sigma fraternity.
During his college years, Dole enlisted in the United States Army during World War II in 1942. In April 1945, while in combat near Castel d'Aiano southwest of Bologna, Italy, Dole was seriously wounded by German machine gun fire, being struck in his upper back and right arm. His recovery was slow as he had many health problems caused by his injured. Dole recovered from his wounds and was honored three times, receiving two Purple Hearts for his injuries, and the Bronze Star with valor for his attempt to help a radioman. The injuries left him with limited mobility in his right arm and numbness in his left arm.
Dole later went to the University of Arizona from 1948 to 1949, before transferring to Washburn University and graduating with both undergraduate and law degrees in 1952.
Dole ran for office for the first time in 1950 and was elected to the Kansas House of Representatives, being a member for a two-year term. In 1952, he became the County Attorney of Russell County. In 1960, Dole was elected to the United States House of Representatives from Kansas' 6th congressional district. After his first term, Kansas lost a congressional district, and most of Dole's district was merged with the 2nd district to form a new 1st district. Dole was elected from this district in 1962 and was reelected two more times.
During his time as a U.S. Representative, Dole voted in favor of the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1968, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
In 1968, Dole won the United States Senate election against former Kansas Governor William H. Avery for the Republican nomination to replaced retiring Senator Frank Carlson. Dole was re-elected in 1974, 1980, 1986, and 1992.
While in the Senate, Dole served as chairman of the Republican National Committee from 1971 until 1973, the ranking Republican on the Agriculture Committee from 1975 until 1978, and the chairman of the Finance Committee from 1981 until 1985.
In 1976, Dole ran unsuccessfully for vice president on a ticket headed by President Gerald Ford. During the Vice Presidential debate with Walter Mondale, "I figured it up the other day: If we added up the killed and wounded in Democrat wars in this century, it would be about 1.6 million Americans — enough to fill the city of Detroit".
Over time in the Senate, Dole was seen by some as having a moderate voting record, meaning he often voted with the Democrats. During the 1970s, he worked with Senator George McGovern to help pass legislation making food stamps more accessible. In 1982, "The New York Times" called Dole as changing from becoming strictly a conservative to "mainstream" Republican.
The Republicans won both the Senate and House of Representatives in 1994 and Dole became Senate Majority Leader for the second time.
In October 1995, Dole and Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich led the Republican-controlled Congress to pass a spending bill that President Clinton vetoed, leading to the federal government shutdown from 1995–96. The following month Republican and Democratic leaders, including Vice President Al Gore, Dick Armey, and Dole, met to try to fix the budget and were unable to reach an agreement. By January 1996, Dole was more open to talk about ending the shutdown, but was not supported by other Republicans who wanted to continue until their demands were met. Gingrich and Dole had a hard time working together as they were possible rivals for the 1996 Republican nomination.
In a January 1996 address, during the shutdown, President Bill Clinton said of Dole as a lawmaker that was "working together in good faith" to reopen the government.
In June 1996, Dole resigned from the Senate to focus on his presidential campaign because he was the Republican Party's presidential nominee for the 1996 election.
Dole first ran for President of the United States in 1980 for the Republican nomination, eventually won by Ronald Reagan. He finished behind Reagan, George H. W. Bush and four others in Iowa and New Hampshire, receiving only 2.5% and 0.4% of votes cast in those contests. Dole ended his campaign after New Hampshire and announced his formal withdrawal from the race on March 15, instead being re-elected to his third term as Senator that year.
Dole announced his second campaign in 1988, formally announcing his candidacy in his hometown of Russell, Kansas, on November 9, 1987. Dole started out strongly by beating Vice President George H. W. Bush in the Iowa caucus.
However, Bush would beat Dole in the New Hampshire primary a week later. During the New Hampshire primaries, Dole lost his temper in a television interview with Tom Brokaw, saying Bush should "stop lying about my record", in response to a Bush commercial which accused Dole laying about his tax ideas.
Dole lost to Bush again in South Carolina in early March and several days later, every southern state voted for Bush in a Super Tuesday sweep. He eventually lost Illinois to Bush and afterwards dropped out of the race.
On April 10, 1995, Dole announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination for president, in his third campaign for the presidency. Dole was the early front-runner for the nomination. At least eight candidates ran for the nomination, such as the more conservative Senator Phil Gramm of Texas and more moderate Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania. Pat Buchanan upset Dole in the early New Hampshire primary, however, with Dole finishing second and former Tennessee governor Lamar Alexander finishing third. ​Many believed that Dole was not doing good at first because he was not "conservative enough".
Dole eventually won the nomination in May after winning all the Midwestern primaries, becoming the oldest first-time presidential nominee at the age of 73 years. If elected, he would have been the oldest president to take office.
In his acceptance speech, Dole said: "Let me be the bridge to an America that only the unknowing call myth. Let me be the bridge to a time of tranquillity, faith, and confidence in action". President Bill Clinton responded, "We do not need to build a bridge to the past, we need to build a bridge to the future".
Dole hoped to use his long experience in Senate to boost his odds against an incumbent president. On June 11, 1996, Dole resigned his seat to focus on the campaign, saying he had "nowhere to go but the White House or home".
Dole promised a 15% reduction in income tax rates and made former Congressman and supply side supporter Jack Kemp his running mate for vice president. Clinton said Dole was a clone of unpopular then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich. He warned that Dole would work with the Republican Congress to cut popular social programs, like Medicare and Social Security. Dole's tax-cut plan found itself under attack from the White House, who said it would "blow a hole in the deficit".