Senator Bob Dole

 

 

I wish I had the adequate words to pay tribute to Robert Joseph Dole or to express how much his life story had inspired me when I was younger and how badly I wanted him to be President 25 years ago.

He was the first Presidential candidate I voted for, months after seeing him at the first (and one of few) Presidential campaign rallies I had attended. His 1996 campaign bumper sticker was on my car as I drove to High School during my senior year and then a campaign placard, like the one above was taped to the window of my Grant North (named after a GOP President) dorm room freshman year at Northern Illinois University,

"The Strength to Endure." That was the name of the biography I basically wrote about him for a High School English class. It was much longer than it needed to be but even not long before he became his party's Presidential nominee, he had endured so much. The title came from a description of Dole given by the Armenian surgeon from Chicago who had operated, free of charge, several times, on the future Senator and gave him new purpose in life. Dole had wanted to be a doctor himself, but his injuries in World War II and the years it took for him to recover changed that. Instead, Dole found himself in a law career and one of politics and public service. Along the way, he helped bring millions of disabled Americans like himself more into the mainstream of our country. Through it all, he never forgot Dr. Hampar Kelikian and issues important to Armenian-Americans.

His entire life, from the Depression years of Dust Bowl Kansas to his impressive Senate legacy are to be admired. The tale of what happened to him in the mountains of Italy in 1945 has been well documented, but it must always be pointed out that it took years of recovery and nearly dying several times before that War was over for him. For the rest of his life, he suffered discomfort and it took him longer than most to do simple tasks because his right arm was virtually useless. Many believe he kept the pen in his hand in order to keep well-wishers from trying to shake it, but mostly because he wanted to feel like that arm was still useful. Somehow, I took up the habit that stuck with me of walking around carrying a pen also. It was my own way of offering a tribute to Bob Dole. For all that he had to endure, it is a great blessing that he lived for 98 years, and even after leaving public office, continued to make a difference in the lives of others and his country.

Bob Dole was an extremely loyal Republican which I admire. I cannot though fully understand why he supported Donald Trump (in a relatively minor way) in 2016 and 2020, when other GOP luminaries and past nominees took a pass. This stands in contrast to everything I remember Dole talking about in regards to the Republican Party and the country when I was still forming my own political values. Of course, Dole did go on record after the last election saying Trump lost and he should accept it. I am mindful that nobody will have a perfect legacy at the end of their days, but with Dole, there is far more to honor than regret. The irony of all this is that in our ultra-divided political times, there is more consensus in honoring Dole in death than just about any political figure could hope for. Democrats who opposed him speak out about how much they respected him personally (though like all recent non-Trump GOP nominees, he was unfairly demonized) and even Trump himself gave a nice statement about him, without the typical snark and nastiness that he offers when other political figures have passed away.

The Senator was part of the Greatest Generation, whose numbers get thinner by the day, as I write this on the eve of the 80th Anniversary of Pearl Harbor. Many, including those who served with Dole, never got to come home at all though. He did, broken but unbowed, and helped stamp his impact on the 20th Century.

Many decades ago, when Dole was feeling down because of his injuries and the expectations of life he thought he could not realize, he would think of how grateful he was for his hometown of Russell, Kansas and its citizens for sticking by him, and helping raise money for him. a memory which could not help but move him to public tears even when was a nationally prominent politician. 

The year Dole was injured, a Rodgers and Hammerstein musical called "Carousel" came out and it included the song "You'll Never Walk Alone." It has been covered by many artists over the decades but I will always remember the story of a housebound or hospitalized severely injured veteran playing it on the phonograph over and over again to cheer himself up. The song would remain a personal anthem for the rest of his life.

When you walk through a storm

Hold your head up high

And don't be afraid of the dark.

At the end of the storm

Is a golden sky

And the sweet silver song of a lark.

Walk on through the wind,

Walk on through the rain,

Tho' your dreams be tossed and blown.

Walk on, walk on

With hope in your heart

And you'll never walk alone,

You'll never walk alone.