Trivia

Was injured in World War II when right arm was nearly blown off. Has little use of arm.

World War II veteran. Was advocate of getting WWII memorial funded and built.

U.S. senator from Kansas (3 January 1969-11 June 1996); as the presumptive Republican nominee, resigned to fully concentrate on running for president.

U.S. congressional representative from Kansas (3 January 1961-3 January 1969).

Was the Vice Presidential running mate to President Gerald Ford in the 1976 presidential election, which Ford narrowly lost to Jimmy Carter.

Unsuccessfully ran for U. S. President three times. He lost the Republican nomination in 1980 and 1988. He won the party's nomination in 1996, but lost the general election to President Bill Clinton.

His daughter Robin was born on October 15, 1954.

Underwent surgery for prostate cancer in 1993.

Awarded the Congressional Gold Medal on17 January 2018; authorized by Public Law 115-60, 131 Stat. 1154, 15 September 2017.

Until 2020, he was the oldest first-time major party presidential nominee in American history, being 73 years old on Election Day 1996.

Diagnosed with Stage IV lung cancer. [February 2021].

Passed away in the same year, just 7 1/2 months after Walter Mondale with whom he had the first ever Vice-Presidential debate with in the 1976 election. Both of the men later became major party Presidential nominees as well.

He was the son of Bina M. (Talbott) and Doran Ray Dole, who ran a small creamery.

His ancestry included English, Irish, German, some Northern Irish, and distant Dutch and Welsh. One of his paternal great-grandfathers was from Ontario, Canada.

Being aged 73 at the time he was major party candidate for the presidency, Dole is currently the fourth eldest candidate (after Donald Trump, Joe Biden and Ronald Reagan) but he is the eldest one who was never President.