The “Greatest Generation” is described as those Americans that came of age amidst the Great Depression and had their lives altered by World War II. Tom Brokaw popularized the term in his book by the same name. It produced many political leaders across the country. Young men returned home after the war and were recruited to run for office. Many found success and over a hundred of these veterans found their way to service in the U.S. Senate. One of the most prominent of these veterans was Kansas Senator Bob Dole.
Dole passed away on December 5, 2021, at the age of 98, just two years shy of reaching 100. He had been an influential leader in the Republican party for most of my early life and had run for president three times (1980, 1988, and 1996). I thought it would be good to look back on his campaigns and visits to Oregon through the years.
Dole had run and was elected to the Senate from Kansas in 1968. Before his service in the Senate, he had been elected to the U.S. House, Kansas House, and in county government.
The first campaign-related trip of Dole I could find to Oregon was just after he had been elected to the Senate. This is when Dole was serving as chairman of the Republican National Committee. He had been Richard Nixon’s hand-picked successor to lead the RNC. Dole came to Portland on May 27th to raise funds for Republican congressional candidates gearing up for 1972.
I could find no more Dole visits until he was running for Vice President on the Republican ticket with President Gerald Ford in 1976. Here is Dole accepting the GOP nomination for Vice President in Kansas City.
Dole visited Klamath Falls and Pendleton on October 29th of that year to stump for himself and Ford. The visits were very much needed, as Oregon turned out to be the closest state come election night. A mere 1,173 votes were all that separated Ford-Dole and Carter-Mondale. That was a victory margin of 0.16% for the Republican ticket.
I couldn’t find any more reported visits of Dole himself until the 1996 campaign after this point. His wife, Elizabeth Dole, would make several visits as part of her various jobs in the Reagan and Bush 41 administrations in the 80s and 90s, but Dole himself did not accompany her at this time.
1996 Presidential Campaign Visits
In building up to Dole’s first campaign stop in Oregon the campaign announced the leadership of the Oregon campaign.
County Chair
Baker Holly Sullens
Benton/Linn Rep. Liz Van Leeuwen
Crook Doug Breese
Deschutes Parker Johnstone
Douglas/Coos Evelyn Badger
Gilliam Larry Lear
Harney/Grant Senator Gene Timms
Hood River Senator Greg Walden
Jackson Dalton Straus
Jefferson Garry Harris
Josephine Cherry Walker
Honorable Irv Whiting
Klamath Tracy Liskey
Lake Susie Cahill
Lane Bob Sampson
Lincoln Mary Shector
Malheur June Hartley
Marion/Yamhill Senator Marilyn Shannon
Multnomah Jim Fitzhenry
Karen Belding
Polk Mike Propes
Sherman Tom McCoy
Tillamook/Clatsop Pam Zwieful
Umatilla/Morrow Rep. Chuck Norris
Betty Lou Norris
Union Rep. Ray Baum
Wallowa Marvin Maxwell
Wasco Terry Cochran
Washington/Columbia Tom Harrung
Martha Brooks
Wheeler E. Elizabeth Carroll
The first visit Dole makes to Oregon as part of his 1996 presidential organizing efforts was an airport rally on February 22, 1996. He stayed overnight and then on the 23rd he attended an event at Tek in Wilsonville. From there he flew down to Medford for an event at a food processing plant owned by Naumes Inc.
You can watch his acceptance speech from the RNC here.
Dole would not visit again until after the Republican National Convention in San Diego. He came to Portland on August 25, 1996, with running mate Jack Kemp and their wives to hold a rally in the Rose Quarter. The Tulsa World reported that even the Z100 crew got a little face-time with Dole. “Disc jockey John Murphy thanked Dole for letting them in, saying, "We feel very honored `cause we're a couple of rock 'n' roll deejays and I can't believe you had us here."
Dole didn't skip a beat. "We're happy to have you here. Keep rockin' and keep rollin'." He did, however, look a little puzzled when asked a follow-up question: "Do you like Hootie and the Blowfish? "Anything that gets me votes," Dole answered.”
Here is a photo of the crowd from the rally. As you can see there do not seem to be any Oregon-specific signs produced by the campaign. Lots of the standard Dole-Kemp gear is there though.
After the rally, Dole and Kemp attended a fundraiser for the Oregon Republican Party before leaving the state.
Dole made no return visits to Oregon for the Fall campaign. He not only had President Bill Clinton to contend with, but billionaire Ross Perot would be on the ballot. Clinton bested Dole in Oregon by a little over 111,000 votes. Here is a photo of some Dole Oregon related pins. Some are national issued and some are probably local. Perhaps this post will generate some photos of Oregon for Dole items.
The first pin was issued by a national vendor. There are several matching pins for the other candidates from 1996. The jugate and Dole photo pin were issued by Tigereye Design. We suspect that the Dole-Kemp star pin is a local Oregon made button. The Bobbitt button follows other pins from 1996 that mention her.
Senator Dole, having resigned from the Senate to dedicate his time to running for President in 1996 suddenly found himself not holding public office for the first time since 1950. He had more time now to dedicate to issues he thought were important. One group and issue that he never stopped advocating for was veterans. President Clinton appointed Dole to serve as co-chair on the board of the World War II Memorial. It was dedicated and open to the public in 2004. He, of course, kept up his advocacy for veterans.
Dole was also able to lean into his more humorous side in his later years. He made appearances on tv like Saturday Night Live. Lent his name to advertising campaigns for products from Pepsi to Viagra. He wrote or significantly contributed to eight books during his lifetime.
His last known visit to Oregon was in 2001 for the Simon Benson Award Dinner and visiting veterans at OHSU. Oregon Historical Society Executive Director Kerry Tymchuk worked for Bob and Dole and shared his thoughts with KOIN 6, The Oregonian, and several other local news outlets. CBS Sunday Morning did a nice recap of Dole’s life and service.
Ending on a more personal note, the passing of Bob Dole reminds this collector of what got me into politics and eventually collecting political items. I was in the 6th grade in 1996 and the presidential election was the first election I was able to follow from start to finish. Our class read Time for Kids and I still have the one issue that had Dole and Clinton racing on a donkey and elephant on the cover. I can recall lots of things about middle school, but that one issue I think did more to make me curious about campaigns and politics than anything before and sent me out on my political life. Twenty-five years later, here I am, working and living in politics. Bob Dole played some role in that, however minor it may be to a 6th grader just reading and consuming information about the election.
If you have any Oregon Dole items please feel free to send us someone photos. We would love to include them in this post.
Summary of Bob Dole Visits to Oregon
1971 May 27th- Dole visits Oregon for GOP fundraiser in Portland in his role as GOP Chairman
1976 Oct 29th- Dole makes campaign swing Klamath Falls and Pendleton.
1996 Feb 22nd- Dole has airport rally
Feb 23rd- Dole attends event at Tek in Wilsonville & Naumes Inc. in Medford
Aug 25th- Dole-Kemp attend rally in Rose Quarter and OR GOP Fundraiser
2001 Dole Attends Simon Benson Awards
Surviving Republican Presidential Nominees
George Walker Bush (2000,
2004)
Mitt Romney (2012)
Donald Trump (2016)
No comments:
Post a Comment