[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 21 (Wednesday, February 2, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S490-S492]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
REMEMBERING ROBERT J. DOLE
Mr. MORAN. Mr. President, today former majority leader and Kansas
Senator Bob Dole was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
On December 11, 2021, Senator Dole's hometown of Russell, KS, said
their final goodbyes to their favorite son and celebrated his life.
[[Page S491]]
I ask unanimous consent that the remarks I gave that day be printed
in the Record.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
All of my political life, I've had to follow Bob Dole and
Pat Roberts. It's a challenge and they have a sense of humor
and wit that I have never been able to replicate, and they
have big shoes to fill that are impossible to accomplish.
Never in my time in public life, and therefore in any
portion of my life, have I felt more nervous, less capable,
of delivering a message. But it is an important one, and I'm
honored so much, so privileged to be able to speak in this
setting. I am delighted that our minority leader, the
Republican leader of the Senate, and his wife Elaine are with
us.
From day one, Mitch has said ``I will be in Kansas.'' I ask
him, ``so did you have a relationship with Bob Dole, did you
like him?'' To which he said, ``Jerry, I voted for him five
times. When I arrived in the United States Senate, there was
a leadership election going on and it took five ballots to
elect Bob Dole, the majority leader, and I did it one, two,
three, four, five times.''
Then he went on to say what I think is the important point
of that story. He said, ``I was a new staffer for a new
Senator when Bob Dole was in the Senate, and I was leaning
against the back wall of the U.S. Senate and the only one of
those five candidates who ever visited with me was Bob Dole.
And I repaid the favor for him paying attention to somebody
he had no necessity of talking to by voting for him. And he
became the majority leader, as I understand it, by one
vote.''
It tells us a story about Mitch's loyalty, but it tells us
a story about Bob Dole. You may remember, I don't know if
it's done these days, but there used to be polls of people
who worked in the Capitol. The question was, ``who's your
favorite Senator; who the politest person is; who's
respectful . . . Bob Dole every time.'' To the elevator
operator, the person who drives the train, to the staff up
and down the halls, Bob Dole was their favorite.
And Senator Kassebaum, I am delighted you're here. There
are many people who appreciate and long for the days in which
Bob Dole and Nancy Kassebaum were their Senators. Those were
days of glory for Kansas because we were represented so well.
There's lots of Dole alumni in this room, people whose
lives were affected by the fact they worked for Bob Dole,
therefore they worked for Kansas; they worked for Americans.
They have done so many good things in their life, and they
come to pay respect to their mentor, the person that gave
them a chance, who brought them from Kansas to the nation's
capital and changed their lives.
Chaplain Black, I certainly appreciated what you said
yesterday at the National Cathedral, but what you said today
in St. Mary's in Russell, Kansas, is meaningful. This is a
place in which you can preach the gospel, the gospel of
salvation, and people are receptive. And Elizabeth Dole, we
have so many things we could compliment you on in your public
service, your service to the United States Senate, your
service to the cabinet. But I have no doubt that the ability
for Chaplain Black to say, ``a brother in Christ'' has a lot
to do with your relationship with Senator Dole. And there is
no better thing that could be said today. All the accolades
about Bob Dole's life are irrelevant until you get to the
point that the Chaplain made: ``my brother in Christ.''
``. . .We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering
produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and
character produces hope. . .'' (Romans 5:3-4).
I travel Kansas a lot and there are so many stories about
Bob Dole. Each of us, we'd love to tell them. . .I've
suggested that we ought to get a group together, get a cup of
coffee, have a sandwich and just tell Dole's stories.
Bob Dole is the first United States Senator I ever met. My
home town of Plainville neighboring county knew of him, but
then the first Senator I ever had the chance to shake a hand
with. And I have been in awe of Bob Dole for 52 years since
then. I know him personally, but I know him from the way
Kansans talk about him. The way they express their views
about what he did for them, what he meant to them, how
important he was to them. If there is a role model in public
service, isn't it about getting to the point in which people
say `you meant something to me'? I hope those days are not
passed in which the connection between elected officials and
the people they represent are about what we've done to make
their lives better.
My story with Bob Dole begins when he was serving our
nation in uniform in the spring of 1945. Not me, but in the
spring of 1945, a worried mother, Bina Dole called my
grandma. My grandparents lived south of here on the Russell-
Barton county line. The way it was described to me, the
conversation took place on a party line and Mrs. Dole was
asking my grandmother, ``could you please ask your son to see
what happened to Bob in the battlefields of Italy?''
My dad was also serving in Italy. He was serving in the
Army and she hoped she expressed this hope to my grandmother,
my dad's mom that maybe my dad could learn something about
what happened to Bob Dole and how he was doing and what his
chances were. My dad took leave and made the effort to find
Bob Dole only to discover that he had been transported,
evacuated out the day before. He missed seeing him by a day.
I walked out of church last Sunday, a week ago tomorrow,
only to learn the news of Senator Dole's passing. And I want
folks to know that every time that I think about Bob Dole, I
think of Russell. I think of places like Russell. Towns like
Russell, some a little bit bigger, some a little bit smaller
dot our state.
In each of these towns, there are differences of opinions.
There are Republicans and there are Democrats. There's people
who go to this church or that church. But you know, when it
comes to communities in Kansas--communities like Russell--we
set aside our differences and try to solve problems. Maybe in
a place like Russell, you could actually have a kid who grew
up in the Kennedy Methodist Church have his funeral service
in St. Mary's Catholic Church. Maybe you could actually have
the Methodists and the Lutherans singing in the choir
together.
I've tried to explain this to my colleagues in Washington,
D.C. more than once, but there is something about small towns
where we still get along, and get along well enough to solve
our problems. Less so, unfortunately, in the nation's
capital. We respect our neighbors. We see them in the grocery
store, and we see them at the football game on Friday night,
and if we fought among ourselves all the time like sometimes
national politics exhibits today, our towns would be a thing
of the past. It's only that community working together that
keeps the place alive. And we put our hands over our heart
when the flag goes by, and we love our country.
Following the attack of December 7th, 80 years ago this
week, the values Bob Dole learned growing up in Russell led
him to sign up and swear an oath to protect and defend our
nation. In the fall of 1944, Lieutenant Dole shipped out, and
on April 14th of the next year, 1945, on a battlefield in the
hills of Italy, his life almost ended. He began here in
Russell and almost ended in a place he probably never
envisioned ever seeing--some set of hills and some country
called Italy. And sadly, his injuries occurred three weeks
before the war came to an end. Those injuries he suffered
were horrific, and they were permanent, but he survived. He
endured a long road to recovery. Three years of healing,
therapy, rehabilitation still left him with a severely
paralyzed right arm.
As we've heard Senator Dole wanted to be a doctor. He was a
great track star in Russell and at the University of Kansas.
But after that event in 1945, his life, even the basic tasks
of living, they were not the story of a track star or a young
man who saw stability in being a doctor in a small town. His
dreams were crippled.
All of us grow up with dreams; his were shattered on one
day. He endured these disabilities throughout his life. You
could never see and talk about Bob Dole without knowing the
experience of his disability which he never let be one. It
took us a number of times to figure out in my life,
particularly as a teenager, ``how do I get to shake Bob
Dole's hand, how does this work?'' He lived with these
disabilities and rather than asking for help; he decided to
commit his life to offering help. His disabilities developed
his character. It developed an empathy for other people, and
he turned his adversities into public service. His
circumstances altered the course of his life, leading him to
Congress where he championed bills to provide hope, hope to
people like him. There may be no more important thing that
any of us can give anyone else, maybe with the exception of
what the Chaplain offers, but the hope. And maybe what the
Chaplain offers is hope.
In addition to his World War II service, Senator Dole's
character developed due to his upbringing here in Kansas,
here in Russell, Kansas. His family and this community
endured the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression. In Russell,
you could feel and see the challenges, the obstacles, the
barriers that were put in people's lives--nothing was easy.
He wanted to be a doctor because it looked to him like the
doctor was the only one who had a stable income . . . Roger.
Even after Bob Dole became a household name across the
country, he always returned to Russell. Following his
injuries, he returned to Russell. After receiving the Vice
Presidential nomination, he and the President came to
Russell. The three presidential campaigns, he came to
Russell; I went to Iowa, three times on a bus, as lots of
Kansans did. After the death of Kenny, his brother, he came
to Russell. In 1996, members of his hometown gathered here to
celebrate his birthday just after he had been defeated by
Bill Clinton.
Though a national leader, he would always be a son of the
Kansas plains. This is what Bob Dole said: ``The first thing
you learn on the prairie is the relative size of a man
compared to the lay of the land.'' The Chaplain talked about
our distances, the sky, the horizons. ``The first thing you
learn on the prairie is the relative size of a man compared
to the lay of the land and under the immense sky where I was
born and raised, a man is very small, and if he thinks
otherwise, he is wrong.'' This place where many of us call
home is a place that puts us in perspective.
Russ Townsley, who Senator Roberts mentioned, the former
Publisher of the Russell Daily News, wrote regarding Senator
Dole's decision to make his announcement to run for President
from a stage in Russell. The national media was making fun of
this kind of thing, ``why would you announce your Presidency
in Russell? You're going to carry Russell County.'' And here
is what Russ Townsley had to say: ``Skeptics ask what
[[Page S492]]
Bob Dole can hope to gain from this public show of
professionally staged rally. And this is where skeptics find
themselves traveling blind. There is no need to look for
ulterior motives for there are none. Dole and his town gained
from each other while one draws on unseen reserves that have
nurtured him from childhood, the other grows strong from the
aura reflected from his image of leadership and stature by
the other.''
To the people of Russell, to the people of Kansas, thank
you for the manner in which you have shaped, treated,
respected a man now so worthy of our admiration. This town
should be so proud because none of us come from places and
become anything but from what we came from. We never escape;
we don't become somebody different than where our roots lie.
We mourn our man, Bob. It can feel like the sun is setting
on both a man and the Greatest Generation that he embodied.
Bob Dole, perhaps the greatest man of the Greatest
Generation.
On Thursday, I stood in the Rotunda of the United States
Capitol as Senator Dole lied in State. He was on a platform,
incidentally that President Lincoln laid on upon his death.
Only 33 people have lied in State in that Rotunda. Your
hometown boy, Bob Dole, is one of them. The statue of his
hero, his commanding general, Dwight D. Eisenhower, looks
over that room and looked over all of us as we gathered to
pay tribute to Bob Dole. I have debated whether to express
concern, always be optimistic, but I am worried. I'm
concerned if America, ever again, will experience the
civility, the bravery, the empathy, the character of people
like President Eisenhower and Senator Dole. What happens when
the greatest generation is absent?
But, I am relieved--I wrote in my notes `think,' but I
think the word is `know.' I'm relieved to know that Bob Dole
would disagree. Bob Dole would disagree with my worry.
Bob Dole was a man of hope--hope for recovery, hope for
those disabilities to have full access to the world around
them, hope that no child would go to bed hungry, hope that
every veteran would receive the care and benefits they
deserve, hope that the aged would live their remaining years
with dignity. In the 1996 comments from the senator on the
Senate floor as he left the United States Senate for the last
time, as a senator he said, ``I agree with the prairie
poet,'' he was speaking of Carl Sandburg, ``who said,
`yesterday, is a wind gone down, a sun dropped in the west, I
tell you that there is nothing in the world only an ocean of
tomorrows; only a sky of tomorrows. And like everybody here
I'm an optimist, and I believe our best tomorrows are yet to
be lived.' ''
My hope is that the life of Senator Bob Dole will be
remembered--carried on in towns across America, the hearts
and minds of here and around the world. Brave enough to find
freedom worth defending and in the halls of our government
where there is a new generation. Where that new generation,
like Senator Dole, will help make tomorrow better for their
fellow citizen.
I started my remarks by sharing how much Bob Dole meant to
Kansans. This week, we're also reminded how much Bob Dole
meant to Americans. One of the places Senator Robert's
mentioned, the World War II Memorial. We saw this week
thousands of people gathered to pay their respects to Bob
Dole at the World War II Memorial. You see it every day,
hundreds of Americans, veterans, their families, citizens who
respected and admired their service they're there at the
World War II memorial to say, ``thanks.''
I did mention earlier as I described my first connection to
Senator Dole, but the first time I heard the story of my dad
searching for Bob Dole in Italy was when my dad told the
story to Bob Dole because my dad was on an honor flight at
the World War II Memorial. My dad in his early 90s, Senator
Dole in his 80s, just two old veterans talking about the
past. That memorial that Senator Dole gave us creates a point
in which we all come together and it helps change lives now,
today, and in the future. Senator Dole had this memorial
built in honor of veterans like my dad, and because of that
we will be reminded of the service and sacrifice for
generations to come across the nation.
When I get frustrated with things in the nation's capital,
I'll walk down to the Lincoln Memorial and on that trip, I'll
go by the World War II memorial, I'll go by the Vietnam Wall,
and see the Lincoln Memorial and come back by the Korean War
Memorial. I was there one day, this was right before the
World War II Memorial opened and I found the Kansas pillar
and I stepped away from the memorial and used my cellphone to
call my dad. This is something that this memorial does,
because I would never tell my dad this in person. I wouldn't
voluntary say what I said to my dad that day and fortunately
for me I got the answering machine so it was not a problem to
leave a message. But I said, ``Dad, I'm at the World War II
Memorial. This memorial was built in your honor, and dad I
want you to know: I thank you for your service; I respect
you, and dad, I love you. That memorial caused that
conversation to occur, which probably was not ever going to.
Incidentally, I was walking back to my office and my
cellphone rings and I answer it. It's my dad's voice and he
says, ``Gerald?'' I said, ``yes?'' and he said, ``you left me
a message, but I couldn't understand it. Would you repeat
it?''
Across the nation, people will remember Bob Dole for
campaigns and presidential races and service to the Senate
and legislation passed. I will always remember Bob Dole as
the serviceman. The person who sacrificed so much, for the
rest of us, in the military. And we'll always remember his
roots.
David Rogers, who covered Congress for The Wall Street
Journal, traveled to Russell in 1988 and he said, ``Like the
outcroppings of bleached stone in the prairie grass, there is
a hardness to this land, and it shows in Russell's native
son, Senate Majority Leader Robert Dole.'' Pat mentioned he
spoke to the high school class graduation in 1986 and Senator
Dole said--of his own powerful ambition to chase flat
horizons and grasp the dreams that lie beyond--he said, ``The
horizon is out there somewhere, and you just keep chasing it,
looking for it, working for it . . . to make your mark not
only on Kansas but America.''
Bob Dole suffered; he endured, and he developed character
that gave him and us hope.
I'm honored to serve in the Dole seat in the United States
Senate and use the Dole desk where I see his name etched into
the bottom of the desk drawer every day. It reminds me of the
man who went before me, and that each of us, each of us can
chase the horizon and make our mark on Kansas and the
country.
Bob Dole has reached his final horizon. He promised us he'd
be sitting up above us; he's watching. And he said he'd be
full of optimism and hope. CJ Mahoney, who was my first
intern in the House of Representatives--a Russell native--
sent me a comic, a cartoon that appeared in some nation's
paper today, and it teared me up this morning. The cartoon is
Bob Dole standing in front of the pearly gates and he's
talking to St. Peter. And the caption is ``For the first
time, Bob Dole can again salute his country with his right
arm.'' Isn't that something that is to celebrate?
Robert J. Dole gives us hope for a brighter and better
tomorrow. We say, ``thank you.'' I can't say it to my dad,
Bob Dole, and I can't say it to you, except in this symbolic
way. But we can say it to all those who served our country.
We say this today, ``Senator Dole, I respect you, I thank you
for your service, and we love you.'' Thank you.
(At the request of Mr. Cramer, the following statement was ordered to
be printed in the Record.)
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