Elizabeth Dole

Mary Elizabeth Alexander Hanford "Liddy" Dole (born July 29, 1936^[2]) is an American politician who served in both the Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush presidential administrations, as well as a United States Senator.

A graduate of Duke University and Harvard Law School, Dole served as Secretary of Transportation under Ronald Reagan and Secretary of Labor under George H.W. Bush before becoming head of the American Red Cross. She then served as North Carolina's first female Senator from 2003 to 2009.^[3] She is a member of the Republican Party and former chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. She is married to former U.S. Senate Majority Leader and 1996 Republican presidential nominee Bob Dole.

Early life and family

Dole was born Mary Elizabeth Alexander Hanford in Salisbury, North Carolina, to Mary Ella (née Cathey; 1901–2004) and John Van Hanford (1893–1978).^[4][2]

She attended Duke University and is a sister of Delta Delta Delta.^[5] She graduated in 1958, and followed that with post-graduate work at Oxford in 1959. After Oxford, she took a job as a student teacher at Melrose High School in Melrose, Massachusetts for the 1959–1960 school year.^[6] While teaching, she also pursued her master's degree in education from Harvard University, which she earned in 1960, followed by a J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1965. She is an alumna of the Phi Beta Kappa honor society and was recognized for being their leading orchid grower several times.

Dole first met her future husband, Senator Bob Dole, in the spring of 1972 at a meeting arranged by her boss and mentor, Virginia Knauer.^[7] The couple dated, and she became his second wife on December 6, 1975 in Washington National Cathedral.^[1] They have no children, though she is stepmother to Bob's adult daughter Robin from his first marriage of 24 years, which ended in divorce in 1972.

She was the lay leader at Foundry United Methodist Church in Washington, D.C. before joining National Presbyterian Church in 1996.^[1]

White House years

Johnson Administration

Dole, who had campaigned for the Kennedy-Johnson presidential ticket in 1960, worked in the White House in the later years of the administration of Lyndon B. Johnson.

Nixon and Ford Administrations

When many Democrats left the White House following Richard Nixon's replacement of Johnson, Dole did not. From 1969 to 1973, Elizabeth Dole served as Deputy Assistant to President Nixon for Consumer Affairs. In 1973, Nixon appointed her to a seven-year term on the Federal Trade Commission. In 1975, she became a Republican. She took a leave from her post as a Federal Trade Commissioner for several months in 1976 to campaign for her husband for Vice President of the United States when he ran on the Republican ticket with Gerald Ford. She later resigned from the FTC in 1979 to campaign for her husband's 1980 presidential run. During the 1970s Dole was a self-described member of the Women's Liberation Movement and helped reform laws to ensure equal credit for women. She was also a supporter of the Equal Rights Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Reagan Administration and Secretary of Transportation

She served as director of the White House Office of Public Liaison from 1981 to 1983 and as United States Secretary of Transportation from 1983 to 1987 under Ronald Reagan. She was also appointed by Reagan to chair taskforces that sought to reform federal and state laws to ensure equal rights for women. She was the first woman appointed Secretary of Transportation. In this role, she was the first woman to have served as the head of a branch of the United States Military, as the United States Coast Guard was under the Department of Transportation at the time. Dole's appointment was "particularly irritating" to conservative activists, since "though at least nominally opposed to abortion, [she was] viewed by the right as [an] aggressive feminist."^[8]

During her tenure, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, mandated the installation of a Center high-mounted stop lamp on new cars; these are sometimes called "Liddy Lights" in her recognition.^[9] She worked with MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) to pass laws withholding federal highway funding from any state that had a drinking age below twenty-one. The state government of South Dakota opposed the drinking age law and sued Dole in the case South Dakota v. Dole, but the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Dole. She oversaw the privatization of the national freight railroad, CONRAIL. She initiated random drug testing within the Department of Transportation.

First Bush Administration and Secretary of Labor

Dole served as United States Secretary of Labor from 1989 to 1990 under George H. W. Bush; she is the first woman to serve in two different Cabinet positions in the administrations of two Presidents.

Red Cross presidency

In 1991 Dole became the president of the American Red Cross. She served until 1999 when she resigned, leaving little doubt she intended to pursue the Presidency of the United States.

1996 Republican National Convention

Dole's husband Bob Dole was the Republican nominee in the US presidential election of 1996. Elizabeth Dole, who would have become First Lady had her husband won the election, received recognition for her speech at the 1996 Republican National Convention, during which she walked out into the audience while talking conversationally about her husband's qualities.

2000 United States Presidential candidacy

Elizabeth Dole ran for the Republican nomination in the US presidential election of 2000, but pulled out of the race in October 1999 before any of the primaries, largely due to inadequate fundraising even though a Gallup poll had her in second place in the presidential race at 11% behind George W. Bush at 60% as late as October 1999.^[10] Dole placed third—behind George W. Bush and Steve Forbes—in a large field in the Iowa Straw Poll (the first, non-binding, test of electability for the Republican Party nomination). The Iowa Straw Poll differed from the national polls where she was second only to Bush; Senator John McCain was in third place.

In July 2000, shortly before the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia, Bush campaign sources said Elizabeth Dole was on the short list to be named the vice-presidential nominee, along with Michigan Governor John Engler, New York Governor George Pataki, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge, and former Missouri Senator John Danforth.^[11] Many pundits believed that Dole was the frontrunner for the Vice Presidential nomination. Bush then surprised most pundits by selecting former U.S. Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney, who was actually in charge of leading Bush's search for a vice presidential nominee.

U.S. Senate career

Campaigns

In late December 2001, Dole shifted her official residency from the Doles' condominium in the Watergate complex to her mother's home in Salisbury to seek election to the U.S. Senate.^[12][13] The seat was made available by the retirement of Republican Jesse Helms. Although Dole hadn't lived regularly in North Carolina since 1959 and had been a resident of the Washington area for most of the time since the mid-1960s, the state and national Republican establishment quickly cleared the field for her. She handily won the Republican primary with 80 percent of the vote over a lesser-known candidate, Dr. Ada Fisher. In the November general election, she defeated her Democratic opponent Erskine Bowles, a former chief of staff to former President Bill Clinton, by an eight-point margin.

Her election to the Senate marked the first time a spouse of a former Senator was elected to the Senate from a different state from that of her spouse (although Kansas Senator Nancy Landon Kassebaum married former Tennessee Senator Howard Baker, the marriage occurred after Kassebaum and Baker both had finished their service in the Senate). Dole was criticized by Democrats during her first Senate campaign over the fact that for over 40 years prior to her nomination, she had not lived in North Carolina.

In November 2004, following Republican gains in the United States Senate, Dole narrowly edged out Senator Norm Coleman of Minnesota for the post of chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. She is the first woman to become chair of the NRSC. During her election cycle as chairperson, her Democratic Party counterpart, Senator Chuck Schumer raised significantly more money, and experienced more success in recruiting candidates. In the November election, Dole's party lost six U.S. Senate seats to the Democrats, thus losing control of the U.S. Senate. Dole was replaced as NRSC chair by Senator John Ensign of Nevada following the 2006 midterms.

2008 Senate re-election campaign

Dole was initially a heavy favorite for re-election, especially after several potential top-tier challengers such as Congressman Brad Miller, Governor Mike Easley and former Governor Jim Hunt all declined to compete against Dole.^[14][15] Ultimately, Kay Hagan, a state senator from Greensboro, won the Democratic primary election against Jim Neal and became Dole's general election opponent. Reports late in the campaign suggested that Dole suffered from Barack Obama's decision to aggressively contest North Carolina in the presidential election,^[16] while Hagan received substantial support from independent 527 groups lobbying/advertising against Dole,^[15] as well as the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee, which spent more money in North Carolina than in any other state during the 2008 election season.^[15] Dole undertook an eight-day "ElizaBus" tour of the state in the days leading up to election day.^[17]

In late October, Dole released a controversial television ad attacking Hagan for reportedly taking donations from individuals involved in the Godless Americans PAC, a group which advocates for the rights of people who do not believe in God. The ad also included a female voice saying, "There is no God." Hagan's campaign said the ad sought to put inflammatory words in their candidate's mouth. Hagan, who is a member of the Presbyterian Church and a former Sunday school teacher,^[18] condemned the ad as "fabricated and pathetic," and, according to Hagan's campaign website, a cease-and-desist letter was "hand-delivered to Dole's Raleigh office and to her home at the Watergate in Washington, DC."^[19] Hagan also filed a lawsuit in Wake County Superior Court accusing Dole of defamation and libel.^[20][21] The ad met significant criticism from some members of the public as well national media outlets. The media reported that within 48 hours of the first ad Hagan received over 3,600 contributions, including major donors as well as individual support from a range of atheists, agnostics and other religious beliefs who felt they were being attacked by Dole.^[22] Following the second ad Hagan's lead doubled according to some polls.^[22]

In the 2008 election, Dole lost by a wider-than-expected margin, taking 44 percent of the vote to Hagan's 53 percent – the widest margin for a Senate race in North Carolina in 30 years, and the largest margin of defeat for an incumbent Senator in the 2008 cycle. It has been speculated that the outcry over the "Godless" ad contributed to Dole's loss.^[23] Hagan trounced Dole in the state's five largest counties – Mecklenburg, Wake, Guilford, Forsyth and Durham. Hagan also dominated most of the eastern portion of the state, which had been the backbone of Helms' past Senate victories. While Dole dominated the Charlotte suburbs and most of the heavily Republican Foothills region, it was not enough to save her seat.

Political positions

Dole's voting record was somewhat more conservative than that of her husband, though slightly less conservative than that of Helms. She has a lifetime rating of 92 from the American Conservative Union.

Dole worked with other senators such as Chuck Hagel to draft and attempt to pass legislation reforming housing financing regulation; the bill did not go up for a vote.^[24]

In September 2008, Dole joined the Gang of 20, a bipartisan group working towards comprehensive energy reform. The group is pushing for a bill that would encourage state-by-state decisions on offshore drilling and authorize billions of dollars for conservation and alternative energy.^[25]

As a member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Armed Services, Dole is credited with helping to prevent any closures of North Carolina military bases despite threats from the Department of Defense.^[26] In 2007, she sponsored legislation which would have granted federal recognition of a North Carolina Native American tribe, the Lumbee based in Robeson County.^[27]

Committee assignments

Dole was a member of the following U.S. Senate committees:

• U.S. Senate Committee on Armed Services
  • Emerging Threats and Capabilities
  • Personnel
  • Readiness and Management Support
• U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
  • Financial Institutions
  • Housing, Transportation, and Community Development
  • Security and International Trade and Finance
• U.S. Senate Select Committee on Aging
• U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship

Books by and about Elizabeth Dole

• Dole, Bob & Elizabeth with Richard Norton Smith (1988). The Doles: Unlimited Partners. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-671-60202-0.  The book was first released during Bob Dole's presidential candidacy.^[28] (re-release) Unlimited Partners: Our American Story. Simon & Schuster, 1996. ISBN 0-684-83401-4
• Dole, Elizabeth (2004) Hearts Touched by Fire: My 500 Most Inspirational Quotations. Carroll & Graf. ISBN 0-7867-1428-X
• Lucas, Eileen (1998) Elizabeth Dole: A Leader In Washington. The Millbrook Press. ISBN 0-7613-0203-4
• Wertheimer, Molly Meijer and Gutgold, Nichola D. (2004) Elizabeth Hanford Dole: Speaking from the Heart. Praeger Publishers. ISBN 0-275-98378-1

Charity work

Dole accepted no salary from the Red Cross during her first year as president of the organization.^[29]

Dole is an Honorary Board Member of the humanitarian organization Wings of Hope^[30]

Electoral history

See also

• Women in the United States Senate

Footnotes

External links

• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Voting record maintained by The Washington Post
• Issue positions and quotes at On The Issues
• Financial information at OpenSecrets.org
• Staff salaries, trips and personal finance at LegiStorm.com
• Campaign finance reports and data at the Federal Election Commission
• Senate Campaign website
• Collected news and commentary from The New York Times
• Profile at SourceWatch Congresspedia
• Elizabeth Dole at the Open Directory Project
• A Few Good Women... Elizabeth Dole