Bob Dole Saw Every Stage of the GOP
When Bob Dole returned to the Senate in 1988 after the second of his three presidential defeats, he told the assembled crowd of staffers and supporters, “I am bloodied, but unbowed, as the poet said.” The famous quote from Invictus defined few American politicians of the 20th century as much as Dole, who died this morningat the age of 98.
The son of Russell, Kansas, Dole was bloodied first on the European battlefield in World War II, when an artillery shell cost him a kidney, one of his shoulders, and, permanently, the use of his right arm. During a political career spanning nearly 50 years, he would serve for a decade as the Republican leader in the Senate, helping to usher in legislation reforming Social Security under President Ronald Reagan and the landmark Americans With Disabilities Act under President George H. W. Bush.
