Elizabeth Dole Biography

Political Figure

Elizabeth Dole is a a Republican senator from North Carolina, former Secretary of Transportation, and former candidate for president in 2000. She is also the wife of former U.S. Senator Bob Dole. Dole graduated from Duke University in 1958, then went on to earn a degree from Harvard Law School in 1965. She started her political career with a job in Lyndon Johnson's department of Health, Education and Welfare. She became the first female Secretary of Transportation in 1983 under Ronald Reagan; in 1989, George Bush (the elder) made her Secretary of Labor. She left that job in 1991 to become head of the American Red Cross, a job she held until 1998. She formed an exploratory committee to run for the presidency in 2000, but withdrew from the race on 20 October 1999. (The election was later won by Bush's son George W. Bush.) She won the U.S. Senate seat of retiring North Carolina senator Jesse Helms in 2002, and held the seat for one term before being defeated by Democrat Kay Hagen in the elections of 2008.

Extra credit: Since 1975 she has been married to Bob Dole, the former senator from Kansas and GOP presidential candidate in 1996. She and Dole have no children... Her childhood nickname is "Liddy," though she reportedly dislikes having it used in public.

Elizabeth and Bob Dole make a joint appearance in our loop on Presidents Closely Related.

Elizabeth Dole also appears with Ralph Nader and Pat Buchanan in our review of Candidates 2000.