[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 75 (Tuesday, June 13, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5734-S5736]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     TRIBUTE TO SENATOR ROBERT DOLE

  Mr. SMITH. Mr. President, I was not in the Chamber 10 years ago when 
Senator Dole resigned his seat. I was, in fact, on the campaign trail 
in the midst of an election campaign that he had helped to recruit me 
to run. I remember watching those proceedings and seeing the bipartisan 
affection in which Senator Dole was held. I later met him many times on 
the campaign trail as he pursued the Presidency and was impressed by 
his courage in the face of very discouraging poll numbers and the high 
probability that he would not win and how hard he fought for us and 
others who were running to fill seats in the U.S. Senate. Elizabeth was 
at his side, and together they made a tremendous campaign and did honor 
to our country and to the Republican Party by the way in which they 
prosecuted a very difficult campaign cycle. It reflected honor upon our 
country.
  It is important that as we celebrate his resignation and his career 
that ended 10 years ago, we take occasion to reflect on his remarkable 
accomplishments. He served 27 years in this body, 11 of those as Senate 
Republican leader. Bob Dole's remarkable record of accomplishment as a 
Senator is well known. It is not an exaggeration to say that his 
fingerprints could be found on nearly every major piece of legislation 
that passed Congress during the 1980s and the first half of 1990s.
  It was Bob Dole who reached across party lines to work with Senator 
George McGovern to create the Food Stamp Program. It was Bob Dole who 
worked with Senators Harkin and Kennedy to bring about the Americans 
with Disabilities Act. It was Bob Dole who worked with the late Senator 
Pat Moynihan to save the Social Security Program.
  I rise today not just to pay tribute to Bob Dole's legislative 
accomplishments; rather, I rise on this occasion to

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celebrate what he has done in the decade since he left this body. There 
can be no question that over those 10 years, Bob Dole has continued his 
lifelong commitment to serving his country, a commitment that began as 
a young soldier in the hills of Italy during the Second World War. 
Indeed, for many Americans, Bob Dole is the living symbol of what Tom 
Brokaw has termed ``America's greatest generation,'' the generation of 
Americans who saved freedom during World War II. My generation is the 
beneficiary of Bob Dole's generation, the world we inherited, a world 
in which America assumed world leadership. My generation has been 
greatly blessed by patriots such as Bob Dole.
  Perhaps Bob Dole's greatest contribution to the past decade was his 
chairmanship of the National World War II Memorial. Quite simply, that 
beautiful memorial would not grace our National Mall now had it not 
been for the persistence and leadership of Bob Dole.
  Bob Dole also volunteered for service after the attacks on September 
11, when he joined with former President Bill Clinton to serve as 
cochair of the Families of Freedom Scholarship Fund, which assists the 
educational needs of families of those who lost their lives in the 
World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and United flight 93.
  During this time in this Chamber, no Senator spoke more loudly and 
more eloquently about atrocities occurring around the world--
specifically in Bosnia--than did Bob Dole, who raised his voice loudly. 
He has continued his vigilance by serving as Chairman of the 
International Commission on Missing Persons, traveling to the Balkans 
to provide closure to families of those who were victims of the 
genocide that occurred under Slobodon Milosevic.
  In January of 2003, President Bush appointed Bob Dole as honorary 
Cochair of the President's Council on Service and Civic Participation. 
He has worked to connect countless Americans with service opportunities 
in communities, schools, and workplaces.
  Bob Dole has also continued his commitment to ending the scourge of 
hunger, working with his former colleague, George McGovern, to advocate 
the expansion of school breakfast programs in the United States. They 
have also teamed to promote the expansion of the School Lunch Programs 
across the world through their Global School Feeding Initiative.
  Bob Dole has also devoted a great deal of his time and energy to the 
Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics, which is located at the 
University of Kansas in Lawrence, KS. The institute is one of America's 
premier university-based political science and international affairs 
research institutes, dedicated to reestablishing politics as an 
honorable profession and to promoting greater student and civic 
involvement in the democratic process.
  Along with all of these activities, Bob Dole is one of America's most 
popular public speakers, inspiring audiences with his courage, his 
humor, his love of America, and always with that trademark wit. He has 
also authored three books since leaving the Senate--two on political 
humor, and the most recent, ``One Soldier's Story,'' which tells the 
remarkable story of his recovery from the wounds he suffered during the 
Second World War.
  Mr. President, Bob Dole has often said that he takes inspiration in 
the State motto of his beloved Kansas, which is: ``To the stars through 
difficulties.'' There can be no doubt that Bob Dole reached those stars 
in serving his country as a soldier and as a public servant. He has 
proved time and again over the past decade that he continues to reach 
for the stars as a private citizen.
  I know all Senators join me in saluting Bob Dole and thanking him for 
the positive difference he has made over these past 10 years. Part of 
that difference was supporting his wife Elizabeth and her campaign to 
win a seat in the Senate. Together, they are a remarkable American 
couple and have made a remarkable difference for the betterment of our 
country and even the world.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Mississippi is 
recognized.
  Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I thank those who have come to the floor 
today to help honor our former colleague in the Senate, Bob Dole. I 
don't know of anyone who has had more of an influence on my career in 
the Senate than Bob Dole, although Howard Baker, who was the Republican 
leader when I first arrived in the Senate in 1978, also had a great 
deal to do with my career here.
  I don't know who coined the phrase ``compassionate conservative,'' 
but Bob Dole was the epitome of a compassionate conservative. His 
legislative record is replete with examples of his leadership to help 
ensure the formulation and implementation of policies by our Federal 
Government that recognized the needs of those who were unable to care 
for themselves, or were unable to make progress economically, without 
the assistance of the Government.
  He authored the Americans with Disabilities Act and helped lead the 
way for many Americans by his example of how one can overcome 
disabilities. My friend Gordon Smith mentioned his authorship of the 
book ``One Soldier's Story.'' That should be required reading for every 
American. It was a heart-warming yet heartbreaking account of his 
experiences in World War II in combat and his long road to recovering 
from the painful and life-threatening injuries he sustained in battle.
  You can also look to examples of when he was a leader in the 
Agriculture Committee on which I had the good fortune to serve as a new 
member, at a time when he was one of the true leaders in formulating 
agricultural policy for our Nation. He worked easily across the aisle 
with Herman Talmadge, the chairman of the committee at that time, and 
with George McGovern, another leader on the committee from South 
Dakota. They worked together to help craft improvements in the School 
Lunch Programs and other feeding programs that assist Americans who are 
unable to provide for their own nutritional needs. Think about that. 
This was at a time when the Federal Government was pretty well leaving 
these responsibilities to State and local governments, charitable 
organizations, and the Nation's schools to formulate their own response 
to these challenges.
  But we became a Nation whose record of support for dealing with these 
problems has become a model for the world. As a matter of fact, he and 
George McGovern created a worldwide nutrition assistance program that 
today makes food and nutrition benefits available to the poorest of the 
poor in Africa and many other countries throughout the world.
  He was a leader in establishing a modern veterans benefit program and 
ensuring that a cabinet-level position was available to help administer 
this program to be sure that all veterans, those who had disabilities 
or those who deserved pensions and other benefits because of their age 
or experiences in war, would have those benefits and could be a part of 
our national citizenship in every sense of the word.
  I recall very vividly when we elected Bob Dole as our leader in the 
Senate on the Republican side. He was a master at getting things done, 
at working out problems, at bringing people together who had disparate 
views on subjects that we needed to take action on and deal with. He 
worked hard. He knew everybody's personal interests and disposition. I 
was amazed at how he could stand before the Senate and stay there until 
the late hours of the evening, working out the intricacies of a tax 
reform bill, which he helped craft as chairman of the Finance 
Committee, in charge of tax policies for our country.
  He was a Senator's Senator in every respect, a warm-hearted, 
humorous, delightful companion, who enriched the lives of all who 
served with him in the Senate. I suppose the highlight for me in my 
relationship with Senator Dole was the nominating convention, when he 
was selected to be the Republican Party candidate for President of the 
United States. I was very excited about that. It was a wonderful 
decision. I could not think of anybody who would be better as President 
of the United States than Bob Dole. I remember the night that the 
convention nominated him and he walked out on the stage to accept the 
nomination. It was really quite an event. Also, that night, I recall 
while they were counting the ballots on the floor, he invited Chuck 
Grassley from Iowa, our colleague in the Senate, and me to be with his 
family up in the suite in the hotel in San

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Diego to watch the last votes being counted, and then to proceed into 
the convention hall to accept the nomination.
  Mr. President, we miss Bob Dole's leadership in the Senate. We are 
delighted, though, the Senate is taking time to recognize the great 
service that he rendered during his career here.

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