Elizabeth Dole has worked as a lawyer, White House aid, cabinet officer and also as the President of the American Red Cross. Read more about Bob Dole’s wife.

Elizabeth Dole

Elizabeth Hanford Dole was born in 1936. She has worked as a lawyer, cabinet officer, White House aide and also as the President of the American Red Cross. The distinguished lady grew up in Salisbury, North Carolina. She is the daughter of wholesale flower dealers. Dole has done political science from Duke University and had received a master’s degree in education from the Harvard University in 1960. She graduated from Harvard Law School in 1965. There were only 25 female graduates at that time in a class of 500 students. Dole was always gracious, brainy and friendly during her college years and became the college May Queen and student body president in her college days. After completing her education, she went to Washington where she earned her rapport as a consumer advocate and as executive director of the Presidential committee for Consumer Interests. She also earned the position of a deputy director of the U.S. office of Consumer Affairs. In 1973, Dole was nominated to be among the five commissioners in the Federal Trade Commission. She enforced Equal Credit Opportunity Act of 1975 and also worked towards nursing home abuses. She always cared about the poor, handicapped, minorities and helpless women. Elizabeth Hanford married Robert Dole also known as Bob Dole who was the senior senator from Kansas in 1975. They soon gained recognition as Washington’s ‘Power Couple’ owing to their prominent roles in national politics. Their life, however glamorous their designation may sound, had become very monotonous and only revolved around work. She once said, “It’s a great way of sharing even if you can’t share all the information, and you don’t have as much time together … you share a sense of pride in each other’s accomplishments.” As they both married late in life, they did not have any children of their own. Dole was always religious and attended the church regularly. She often performed charitable services for nursing home residents. Dole became a registered Independent during her initial years in Washington although previously she was a democrat. She not only became a Republican after her marriage but also campaigned a lot with her husband when he ran for vice-president on the Ford-Dole ticket in 1976. He was unsuccessful. She resigned from her FTC commissioner post to campaign with her husband full-time. By that time, she had gained recognition as ‘Liddy’ Dole, one of the Republican Party’s most outstanding female leaders. Liddy was appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1983 as Secretary of Transportation. She was the first woman in American History to hold a cabinet position. She also was the director of the U.S. Coast Guard being the Secretary of Transportation. From the beginning of her tenure, she ‘moved a mountain’ and Dole agreed to provide $70 million in existing Department of Transportation and the Amtrak funds. Under the Presidency of Ronald Reagan and with his support, she continued to work wonders. Dole’s primary concern became ‘safety’ while transportation. She endorsed the concept of air bags and third brake light on cars. She was highly credited and appreciated for her victories and efforts. Dole campaigned for higher drinking ages, e airline scheduling, single-licensing of truck drivers and many such clauses. She abandoned her earlier support for the Equal Rights Amendment after joining the anti-era Reagan administration. Here she campaigned to increase the women benefits such as work place day care centers. Dole resigned this post in 1987 to campaign for her husband’s second attempt at the presidency. This was again unsuccessful. She grew highly famous as a campaigner and President George H.W. Bush in 1989 elected her as the new Secretary of Labor. She did credible work again under the presidency of George H.W. Bush. Elizabeth Dole has her Foundation as the Elizabeth Dole Foundation which cares for the military families. It is an organization which empowers and supports nation’s military caregivers and their families. Elizabeth Dole has authored two books; When We Were Young: The Lives of Children During World War II and Hearts Touched with Fire: My 500 Favorite Inspirational Quotations. Her first book was released in 2000 and her second book was released in 2004.

Bob Dole and his wife

Bob Dole was married Phyllis Holden in 1948. She was an occupational therapist at a veteran hospital in Michigan. He has a daughter, Robin with her born in 1954. They divorced in 1972 and Holden died in 2008. Bob Dole met his second wife, Elizabeth Hanford who was 13 years younger to him in 1972. They got married in 1975 but have no children of their own. Former Senator Bob Dole received his Congressional gold medal two days ago in recognition of his service to the nation. He was presented the medal by House Speaker Paul Ryan, along with President Trump looked on. Dole was an early backer of Trump. Bob Dole has a net worth of $1.5 million and his wife has a net worth between $1 million to $5 million.

Elizabeth Dole as President of the American Red Cross

Elizabeth Dole headed the American Red Cross. She was selected as the President of the American Red Cross in 1990. She did credible work during her tenure and took a leave of absence for a year in 1996 to campaign for her husband’s final try for presidency. It was the fourth time that she had left powerful jobs in order to campaign for her husband’s White House ambitions because she had a lot of loyalty and trust for him. She gave her speech in her style, ‘Why I love Bob’, which was so successful that after the convention, she acquired her own staff of 30, a travel budget of $1.5 million, and a leased 14-seat jet to campaign separately for her husband. This time again, he was defeated by Bill Clinton this time. Dole returned to her position as President of the American Red Cross in 1997 with new goals such as re-engineering of national headquarters to ensure greater responsiveness for service delivery and the strengthening of the disaster relief fund.