Some people were worried about Dole's age and on September 18, 1996 at a rally in Chico, California, he was reaching down to shake the hand of a supporter, when the railing on the stage gave way and he tumbled four feet. Many compared the fall between Dole to a younger Clinton, making it clear that Dole's age was becoming an issue.
Towards the end of October 1996, Dole and his advisers knew that they would lose the election, but in the last four days of the campaign they went on the "96-hour victory tour" to help Republican Congressional candidates.
Dole lost to incumbent President Clinton, with a 379–159 Electoral College landslide. Clinton won 49.2% of the vote against Dole's 40.7% and Ross Perot's 8.4%. Many believe that the strong economy during the Clinton president helped the president win a second term.
After the 1996 election, Dole began to focus on writing, law consulting, public speaking, and television appearances. He became a television commercial spokesman for Viagra, Visa, Dunkin' Donuts and Pepsi-Cola. He was also a political commentator on the interview program "Larry King Live", and has been a guest a number of times on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart". Dole was, for a short time, a commentator with Bill Clinton on CBS's "60 Minutes". He also made a cameo appearance on "Saturday Night Live" making fun of himself.
From 1998 to 2002, Dole was head of the Federal City Council in Washington, D.C. Dole later joined the Washington, D.C. firm Verner, Liipfert, Bernhard, McPherson and Hand, where he became a lobbyist. Dole joined the Washington, D.C. law and lobbying firm Alston & Bird LLP.
Dole was also involved in many voluntary organizations. He served as national chairman of the World War II Memorial Campaign, which raised funds for the building of the National World War II Memorial. He also worked with former President Clinton on the Families of Freedom Foundation, a scholarship fund campaign to pay for college educations for the families of 9/11 victims.
In 2007, President George W. Bush appointed Dole and Donna Shalala, former Secretary of Health and Human Services, as co-chairs of the commission to investigate problems at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. That same year, Dole joined fellow former Senate majority leaders Howard Baker, Tom Daschle, and George Mitchell to found the Bipartisan Policy Center, to create ideas for bipartisan support.
On December 4, 2012, Dole made an appearance on the Senate floor to support the ratification of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, however Republicans rejected the bill.
In 2015, Dole supported former Florida governor Jeb Bush in his presidential campaign. After Bush ended his campaign following the South Carolina primary, Dole supported Florida senator Marco Rubio's campaign. During the campaign, Dole criticized Texas senator Ted Cruz questioning his support of Republican ideas. Dole later supported Donald Trump after Trump won the Republican nomination. He was the only former Republican presidential nominee to go to the 2016 Republican National Convention.
Former Dole advisers, including Paul Manafort, played a major role in Trump's presidential campaign. After Trump won the 2016 election, Dole worked with the Trump campaign and presidential transition team to set up meetings with the government of Taiwan.
Dole was worried about the Commission on Presidential Debates were biased against President Trump and his reelection campaign in a public statement on October 9, 2020, saying how he knew all the Republicans on the Commission and feared that "none of them support[ed]" the president.
Dole married Phyllis Holden in in 1948, three months after they met. The couple only had one daughter, Robin. Dole and Holden divorced January 11, 1972. Dole met his second wife, Elizabeth, in 1972. The couple were married in 1975 and have no children.
Dole is a Freemason.
Dole is known for speaking to himself in the third person in conversation.
After prostate surgery, Dole had erectile dysfunction and made a public service announcement speaking up about it. In 2001, Dole, at age 77, was treated for an aortic aneurysm.
In January 2005, Dole had bleeding inside his head. Dole spent 40 days at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and the bleeding left him with mobility problems.
In February 2010, Dole was hospitalized for pneumonia after having knee surgery. He spent ten months at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, recovering from the surgery, and had pneumonia three times. He was released from the hospital in November 2010. In January 2011, however, Dole was hospitalized again to Walter Reed Army Medical Center and spent about six days there, being treated for a fever and an infection.
Dole was hospitalized in November 2012 at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
On September 13, 2017, Dole was hospitalized at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for low blood pressure. He stayed for 24 hours before returning home.
In February 2021, Dole announced he was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer.
In 1989, Dole was presented with the Presidential Citizens Medal by President Ronald Reagan. In 1997, he was presented the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bill Clinton for his service in the military and his political career.
In 1997, Dole received the U.S. Senator John Heinz Award for Greatest Public Service by an Elected or Appointed Official.
For his lobbying work on behalf of Kosovo Albanians before, during and after the Kosovo War, in May 2017, Albanian President Bujar Nishani awarded Dole Albania's highest civilian honor, the National Flag Order medal.
On January 17, 2018, Dole was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for his service to the nation as a "soldier, legislator and statesman".
In 2019, the United States Congress passed a bill promoting the 95-year-old Dole from captain to colonel for his service during World War II.
Lionel Richie
Lionel Richie (born June 20, 1949) is an American R&B singer-songwriter. He is best known for his 1980s songs.
Richie was born in Tuskegee, Alabama. His family is of African American, Cherokee Native American, English, French-Canadian and Scottish descent. He spent his childhood there. He spent his teenage years in Joliet, Illinois.
He started his career with The Commodores; between him and the band, "Three Times a Lady" is their best remembered song. His self-titled debut album was one of the biggest music successes of 1982. More successful was its follow-up, "Can't Slow Down".
In 1984, as a surprise guest, he sang "All Night Long" to a worldwide audience of over two billion at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
After a few years break, Richie returned to the music industry in 1996 with "Louder than Words". Another album of his, "Renaissance", came out four years later.
Richie made a dramatic comeback to the top of the charts in 2012 with "Tuskegee", a country album made up of new versions of many of his biggest hit songs, each featuring a different guest artist. It became his first Number 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart since 1986, and also reached Number 1 on the "Billboard" country album chart. "Tuskegee" also became his first album since 1986 to be certified as platinum (more than 1 million copies sold) by the Recording Industry Association of America.
In 1990, Richie adopted Nicole Escovedo. Her name is now Nicole Richie. She co-starred on Fox's "The Simple Life" with Paris Hilton.
Walt Disney Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures is a movie studio from the United States that makes family-friendly movies with a G and PG rating from the MPAA, like Pinocchio and The Nightmare Before Christmas. The only non-G/PG rated Disney movies are 2003's "Pirates of the Caribbean", which was given a PG-13 rating, its sequels, and "John Carter", which were also rated PG-13.