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Here are some facts about him:
* Robert Joseph Dole was born on July 22, 1923, one of four
children of a grain elevator manager and traveling saleswoman in
Russell, Kansas. During the Great Depression of the 1930s his
family moved into their basement and rented out the rest of
their home. Dole later went to the University of Kansas and
played basketball under legendary coach Phog Allen.
* After serving in the Kansas legislature, Dole was elected to
the U.S House of Representatives in 1960. He was elected to the
Senate in 1968 and re-elected four times.
* Dole twice served as Senate Republican leader and earned a
reputation as an effective middle-of-the-road legislator who was
well liked among Democrats as well as Republicans for his
ability to build coalitions.
* Dole was part of four unsuccessful presidential campaigns. In
1976 he was President Gerald Ford's vice presidential choice but
that ticket lost to Jimmy Carter and Walter Mondale. Dole ran
for president in 1980 but lost the Republican nomination to
Ronald Reagan and eight years later Republicans chose George H.W.
Bush over him. Dole won the Republican nomination in 1996 but
was defeated by incumbent Democrat Bill Clinton.
* Dole won two Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star in World War Two,
and was wounded in Italy shortly before the end of the conflict.
He needed nine operations and 39 months to recover from wounds
that destroyed his right shoulder, paralyzed his arm, broke
vertebrae, riddled his body with shrapnel and cost him a kidney.
* Dole not only appeared in television commercials for the
anti-impotency drug Viagra in 1996, he also helped test it.
"It's a little embarrassing to talk about ED (erectile
dysfunction) but it's so important to millions of men and their
partners that I decided to talk about it publicly," he said in
the commercial. While he did not specifically endorse Viagra, he
urged men to see their doctors if they have problems. Dole was
diagnosed in 1991 with prostate cancer, which can cause
impotence.
(Editing by Diane Craft)
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