Former U.S. Senator Bob Dole, R-KS, and Diplomat Jim Patterson, Washington DC, 2006.
Bob
Dole: Farm State Statesman
Dzhim (Jim) Patterson
In
January, former U.S. Senator Bob Dole, the 1996 GOP presidential candidate and
the longest serving GOP Senate leader, was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal
for service as a “soldier, legislator and statesman.”
"Bob
Dole always stood for what was just and what was right," Speaker of the
House Paul Ryan said. "Because of you, America is much better."
President Donald Trump called Kansan Dole, 94, “a true American hero.”
A
decorated World War II veteran, Dole, ran as vice president on the 1976 GOP
ticket with President Gerald R. Ford (1913-2006). As an undergraduate at Auburn University, I
worked on the Ford-Dole campaign at the GOP National Convention in Kansas City,
in Alabama and other states.
Ford’s
selection of Dole as vice president was controversial. Many Republicans at the
convention, myself included, felt Vice President Nelson Rockefeller (1908-1979)
should have shared the ticket with Ford.
Columnist
Carl T. Rowan called Ford’s choice of Dole “moral, but bad politics.” For
morality, Rowan felt Dole prevented “Neanderthals in the Ford administration”
from dismantling the food stamp program. He noted politically conservative
Senator Dole had worked effectively politically liberal Senator George McGovern
(1922-2012), Democrat of South Dakota, with the Dole-McGovern food stamp bill
administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Rowan
suggested it would be “bad politics” is Dole assumed more a political role of
“slashing attacker,” than someone who could add “heart” to the Ford campaign.
It was visioary of Rowan to suggest this as, sadly, many believe Dole was “a
slashing attacker” in 1976 and beyond due to his quick temper and sardonic wit.
The 1976 presidential election was close, but Jimmy Carter defeated Jerry
Ford.
In
1996, I worked on Dole’s presidential campaign as an aide for vice presidential
candidate Jack Kemp, former U.S. Congressman and Reagan cabinet official, in
the campaign’s Washington headquarters. Dole,
who resigned from the Senate in 1996, lost the presidential election to
incumbent Bill Clinton, who, soon after the election award Dole the
Presidential Medal of Freedom. “A man of the heartland, he brought common
sense, uncommon skill, and a prairie wit to the United States Senate,” read
Dole’s Medal of Freedom citation.
In
1998, Dole, 74, participated in Viagra studies and found it “a great drug.” He
immediately became the doleful face of erectile dysfunction (ED) and, soon
after, the happy face of spokesman for Pfizer, Viagra’s manufacturer. Dole’s
Viagra endorsement did not please some GOP constituents.
As
Acting Director of Constituent Services at the Republican National Committee
during the Clinton impeachment, I once got a phone call from a Tennessee fellow
who initially objected to Dole’s Viagra support. I defended Dole for publicly
addressing ED and, by call’s end, I convinced the man to talk with his doctor
about Viagra. I shared the story in a letter to Dole and he demonstrated his
famous prairie wit in his reply and thanked me for “sticking up” for him.
Dole
and McGovern joined to address hunger in their 2005 book, “Ending Hunger Now: A
Challenge to Persons of Faith.” In his foreword, former President Clinton wrote
Dole “has repeatedly demonstrated that combating malnourishment and hunger is
more important than partisan politics.”
Discussing
the book in the January 2007 issue of The Living Pulpit magazine, Dole
acknowledged hunger a huge global issue, but one he felt solvable due to
technological advances in agricultural production, better distribution systems
and dedicated support from people of faith.
Dole
the American Statesman was a great teacher who has a world of experience. In “A
Better America,” his 1996 acceptance speech for the GOP presidential
nomination, Dole spoke of the foreign policy successes of Presidents Nixon,
Ford, Reagan and George H. W. Bush. He said Nixon displayed “diplomatic genius”
in engaging China and Russia. “were it not for Reagan, Dole said, “the Soviet
Union would still be standing today.” President George H. W. Bush, Dole said,
used “a mastery that words fail to convey” in liberating Kuwait from Saddam
Hussein.
Dole
and the GOP leadership helped farmers realize the potential of global markets.
His support of domestic and international food aid helped support farm prices,
incomes and grow rural economies across the country.
Bob
Dole was, at times, a tough leader with whom to work. He does, however, have a
long view of leadership and always has his eye on a secure, successful and
prosperous future for America.
I
am proud to have worked for Dole’s campaigns and I see a future for him and his
wife and former North Carolina U.S. Senator Elizabeth Dole. As I often tell him in emails and letters, I
am a Dole Man and the sound of a double Dole ticket of Bob and Elizabeth Dole, or
Dole/Dole, in 2020 has an appeal to it.
###
Auburn
graduate Jim Patterson is a life Member of the American Foreign Service
Association and a member of the Alabama State Society. JEPDiplomat@gmail.com
