DOLE, BOB

in full Robert Joseph Dole

born July 22, 1923, Russell, Kan., U.S.

U.S. politician. Seriously wounded while fighting in World War II, he recovered from near-total paralysis but permanently lost the use of his right arm and hand. He returned to Kansas, earned a law degree, and held state elective office as a Republican before serving in the U.S. House of Representatives (1961–69) and the Senate (1969–96). He was the running mate of Pres. Gerald R. Ford in 1976. In 1984 Dole became Republican Party leader in the Senate, and he twice served as majority leader (1984–86, 1994–96). After clinching his party's nomination for president in 1996, he retired from the Senate to devote himself wholly to the campaign. He was defeated in the election by Democrat Bill Clinton . His wife, Elizabeth Hanford Dole

born 1936

, ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination in 2000 but was elected to the U.S. Senate from North Carolina in 2002.